UK eRetail Set For Steady Growth

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - 11:21 by Sarah Collinson

The growth figures back in January may have been a little disappointing, but it looks as though the future is fairly bright and rosy for online retail in the UK. That is according to a report, published recently, from Forrester, the independent technology and research company, which predicts that over the next five years, the compound growth rate of online retail in the UK will be at ten percent. In fact, by the year 2014, we can expect to have some 40 million people in the UK who regularly turn to the net for safe shopping online, compared to the 31 million people who currently do so.

The report also looked at eCommerce throughout Europe, comparing the acceptance of online retailing between different countries and different regions within Europe, whilst simultaneously comparing projected growth rates in Europe with those of the UK and the US. By 2014, online retail here will be worth £40 billion, whilst over in Western Europe, the larger markets will be worth £114 billion in five years time, with an extra 50 million Europeans taking to the web and looking to make purchases. As a result, the online market in mainland Europe will grow a little faster than the UK market, at 11 percent growth in the next five years.

Forrester found that it is the UK that has the highest percentage of consumers who use the web to make a purchase on a monthly basis. 48 percent of us indulge in safe shopping online with such regularity, the highest percentage in Europe, where the average number is only 32 percent. Indeed, in Italy, only 11 per cent of the population make a purchase online on such a regular basis, while in Spain, the figure is even lower, with as little as 10 percent of the population doing so.