UK biggest online shopping communities ranked

Friday, April 6, 2018 - 10:50 by Graham Miller

New stats from Royal Mail reveal the parts of the country which saw the highest levels of safe shopping online during Easter, with Llandrindod Wells topping the charts this year.

ITV News reports that this small Welsh town managed to outdo every other community in the UK in terms of online orders over the course of the bank holiday weekend, with Truro in Cornwall sitting in second place and East London occupying third position in the list.

A spokesperson for the study said that Easter was one of the important periods for safe shopping online, usually leading to a spike in spending as people take time out from their busy lives for a bit of e-commerce therapy.

The rankings were determined not by looking at the amount of internet activity and on-site purchases being made in Llandrindod Wells, but by analysing the delivery data produced by Royal Mail. This gives a very accurate overview of spending levels in different parts of the country, without limiting the figures to specific retailers.

Other towns and cities which managed to make it into the top 10 list of online shopping hotspots included Plymouth, Lincoln, Exeter and Carlisle.

Wales was shown to be a particularly ardent supporter of e-commerce sites, although in the top five busiest Welsh locations for parcel deliveries this Easter the capital of Cardiff only managed to make it in to fourth place, behind Swansea.

Industry observers have expressed concerns about the state of consumer confidence and the reduction in household spending which has been seen so far in 2018. But as online shopping gives people a place to save money and make purchases conveniently, it will continue to prop up performance in the retail sector as the high street suffers further setbacks this year.