E-commerce firms outshine high street rivals

Thursday, June 20, 2013 - 09:51 by Graham Miller

The latest stats from IMRG show that online shopping is still giving bricks and mortar retail a thrashing when it comes to sales growth.

When you divide the market into companies that offer products solely via the web, which includes major players like Amazon and those which operate both online and off, there is still a distinction in how quickly they are increasing sales.

Pure play web retailers saw a year-on-year sales boost of 18 per cent, according to the figures, compared to the 16 per cent rise in sales made via safe shopping online for multichannel outlets.

Report spokesperson, Chris Webster, said that the battle between the web and the high street was looking to be increasingly weighted towards the all-digital approach.

He said that even as the UK's economy recovers from the recent recession, there will still be a growing gap between internet sales and those made at high street stores.

Interestingly, the analysis of the e-commerce market has found that the overall growth in sales has not led to a rise in the average value of a typical online basket.

This year, UK consumers are spending an average of 77 during each transaction of safe shopping online, which is 10 per cent less than the peak value back in 2011.

Clearly this is related to the decrease in disposable income which has been caused by the protracted economic uncertainty.

In fact, more people are shopping online today because of the lower prices which e-commerce offered when compared with traditional high street retail.

IMRG found that mobile sales are still leading the market in terms of sheer growth, with an annual increase of 148 per cent predicted for 2013. This furious expansion is a sign that Brits love buying items using their smartphones and tablets.