Online shopping booming in Europe, BRC claims

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - 11:30 by Simon Crisp

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said that August represented yet another bumper month for online retail in Europe, with sales boosted thanks to the rush of back to school purchases made by parents kitting out their children for the new term.

The BRC's Stephen Roberts, said that many consumers are choosing to take advantage of online reservation services, which mean they can browse products on the internet and then secure them for collection from their local high street outlet. Mr Robertson said that this was one of the multiple reasons behind the continued expansion of e-commerce and he pointed out that the lines between shopping in the high street and shopping online were becoming less distinct.

IMRG predicted that £456 billion will have been spent by European consumers this year by the time that 2010 draws to a close.

Consumers in the UK and Europe are responsible for the equivalent of over a third of all sales made online, which shows the buying power of the continent because its consumers account for just 24 per cent of the total number of internet users who shop online around the world.

This growth in online retail is catching the attention of more high street retailers by the week, with online stores opened by Gap, Banana Republic and Zara in the last few weeks. Giving consumers the opportunity to enjoy safe shopping online and access the same products as they can in store is fuelling the uptake of e-commerce tools by some of the world's biggest brands.

The Telegraph newspaper has launched a brand new e-commerce site this week, which is not only dedicated to selling fashionable products to consumers but also to reviewing and discussing the industry. It's available to view at fashion.telegraph.co.uk and will allow consumers to compare their experiences of safe shopping online and recommend products to others.