Online shopping boom gathers pace

Thursday, May 21, 2015 - 09:04 by Mike Price

There seems to be no stopping the expansion of the UK’s appetite for safe shopping online, with the latest figures from IMRG revealing that sales were up by 13 per cent last month.

The return to double digit growth after almost half a year of the market being a little more subdued is being attributed to a number of factors, including the improving weather conditions, as well as the rise of smartphone and tablet usage for m-commerce activities.

Over fifty per cent more sales in April of 2015 were executed via portable devices when compared with the same month in 2014. And, of course, with the climatic shifts in the retail sector, certain items were more popular than others.

A 15 per cent rise in the amount spent on clothing over the course of April was seen as a suggestion that people are preparing for the summer months by refreshing their wardrobes.

Analysts were also keen to point out that even the looming promise of the General Election, which might usually be expected to cause uncertainty amongst consumers, was not enough to put people off spending last month.

Report spokesperson, Alex Smith-Bingham, said that consumer confidence was growing and this was being expressed through a major rise in the amount of money being spent via safe shopping online.

He also said that conversion rates were on the increase, indicating that online marketing techniques were having a solid impact on sales, while also showing that more people were browsing with an intent to buy, rather than simply participating in the digital version of window shopping.

The multi-billion pound m-commerce market is the current catalyst behind increased online sales and so retailers will be battling to make their shopping services more mobile-friendly, to meet consumer expectations in the UK.