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£11.2 billion prediction for online grocery spend in 2016

Thursday, October 20, 2011 - 09:22 by Simon Crisp

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In five years time it is expected that the number of people who buy their weekly groceries via safe shopping online in the UK will increase to the point that the whole market is worth £11.2 billion annually.

Grocery shopping from e-commerce outlets is set to account for 3.8 per cent of the total market this year, but this could be up to six per cent, according to the IGD report.

Thirty-three per cent of companies involved in the production of goods that are sold as groceries are looking into creating a place where consumers can buy direct online.

Meanwhile, m-commerce via dedicated applications on smartphones are seen as the feature which will have the most significant impact on the way in which techniques for achieving safe shopping online alter in the coming years, according to industry insiders.

Forty-four per cent of UK consumers are going to be using online stores to buy groceries within the next decade, while just under a fifth use these services at the moment.

Interestingly, the consumers of the UK are happy to shop around with various online grocery services and supermarket chains. Almost half of those who shop online said that they would happily switch to a different provider, just to see what perks their service can offer.

Thirty-six per cent of respondents said that they would not be abandoning the high street completely, but would instead be combining online shopping with bricks and mortar outlets to fulfil their grocery requirements.

Spokesperson, Joanne Denney-Finch, said that the emergence of digital retail platforms and devices which give consumers easy access to them were permanently altering the marketplace.

She pointed out that making concrete predictions about the future is difficult, but praised the diversity of e-commerce tools and the adaptability of both retailers and consumers in a dynamic industry.