UK online shopping boomUK consumers lead
Europe in online shopping according to latest figures23
January 2003 The run up to Christmas 2002 saw the strongest performance
by online retailers in the UK, according to the latest data from research
company Nielsen. 12.8 million surfers, or 60% of the UK’s
Internet audience visited an e-commerce site during December 2002,
more than in any other European country in the survey. This is an increase
of 3.7 million people in the UK on the same month in December 2001,
when 9.1 million surfers visited an online retail website. The
UK is Europe’s biggest e-commerce market, and with 70% of British
browsers stating that they then go on to make a purchase online (Nielsen/NetRatings),
it has the highest conversion rate of surfers to actual purchasers.
"These figures represent visitors, not necessarily buyers,"
commented Analyst Tom Ewing, "But the UK’s conversion rate
of browsers to buyers is also the highest in Europe so it’s a
safe bet that actual online spend has risen over the year. The figures
suggest that shopping online is now an everyday part of more than half
of the British online population, particularly at Christmas. In fact,
the UK has become Europe’s capital of e-Commerce." The
UK’s top e-commerce sites in 2002 include the global brands Amazon
and eBay
that lead the category. For the second year running Argos
was Britain’s top high street retailer on the web in December
with over 2.5 million unique visitors. The top ten includes the
highest number of UK high street brands since Nielsen started researching
the behaviour of consumers online and includes Comet
and Dixons "This
research shows that consumers want to order from brands that they trust
- be that the well-known and established Internet pure-plays like Amazon
and eBay,
or from High Street names. The rise of price comparison sites, as well
as eBay.co.uk
which has continually performed well, indicates that the UK’s
online consumers are using the Internet to find bargains as well as
for convenience" concluded Tom Ewing. Source
Nielsen//NetRatings | 
