UK continues to top European e-commerce sales charts

Thursday, March 3, 2011 - 10:52 by Graham Miller

A new report into European online sales has once more found that UK consumers are allowing the country to lead the way when it comes to commitment to e-commerce.

During 2010, around 72 per cent of UK consumers bought goods and services via the internet, according to figures published by analysts at Forrester.

In the 12 months to 2011, the European market for safe shopping online is going to expand by a further 13 per cent, bringing in almost £79 billion for economies across the continent.

Over the next five years, 68 per cent of European citizens will have bought something from an e-commerce site, with this percentage being much higher in Britain than elsewhere.

Even by 2015, the UK's lead in this industry will be unchallenged, according to Forrester. In this same year, consumers buying products from retailers will spend £40 billion when you discount the sales of holidays.

While nations in the north of Europe are forging ahead with strong e-commerce growth, those to the south are less enamoured with safe shopping online. Both Spain and Italy are falling behind, with just 34 per cent of consumers using e-commerce sites to make purchases.

Many retailers and the European Commission are keen on expanding the reach of e-commerce so that it spreads across borders and enhances intercontinental trading.

Some work is required to make sure the rules and regulations of retail allow for e-commerce to operate across Europe, but with the bigwigs behind such changes, it seems inevitable that the future of the market is more international and diverse.

As UK consumers continue to spend their cash online and the broadband infrastructure of the country improves, there is no reason to doubt the figures and estimates found in the recent report.