UK online sales soar 30% month-on-month to £10bn in November

Online retail sales in Britain recorded a month-on-month increase of 30% in November whichrepresents the highest monthly growth in 10 years, with the highest e-retail conversion rate since

UK online shoppers spent a total of £10.1 billion online last month. The conversion rates forthe e-retail sector as a whole also continued to rise with 5.24% in November. The Index hasrecorded 20% growth in online sales on the same period last year and 30% on October’s performance(the highest monthly increase in 10 years), which shows that shoppers are buying their Christmasgifts earlier than usual, the British e-commerce association IMRG said.

Multichannel retailers with both an online and a high-street presence recorded annual growth of23% in November, compared to the 16% recorded by the internet pure players. IMRG explained thatthis strong growth of multichannel retailers has been boosted by shoppers looking to their usualhigh-street brands in the pre-Christmas period when shopping online.

The electrical sector experienced another major boost in online sales in November with amonth-on-month increase of 63%, thanks to the release of various budget tablet devices as well asthe new iPhone and iPad. This is the highest monthly growth since the launch of the Index. Home andgarden products also recorded a particularly strong month, with annual like-for-like growth of42%.

Chris Webster, VP, Head of Retail Consulting and Technology at Capgemini, said: “These resultsare particularly strong and give a clear indication of what we can expect to see during the peakshopping weeks in December. E-retail continues to be the growth engine of an otherwise strugglingretail sector and as online spending exceeds £10 billion in one month, we can see just how integralthe online and mobile channels have become to the shopping experience. With the introduction ofgreat value tablet devices offering better accessibility than ever before, the sector is only setto rocket in 2014.”

Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer at IMRG, added: “While the overall Index performance wasahead of our expectations during November, it seems the strong online growth recorded by the highstreet retailers is being driven by the prominent promotion of their multichannel offering. Weoften see ‘online | mobile | in-store’ as the potential channels for engagement in retaileradverts.”

She highlighted the launch of the budget tablet devices over the recent months as a reason forthe rising number of so-called ‘sofa surfers’. “With the rapid adoption of these popular devicesset to continue over Christmas, we are likely to see this growth trend continue next year as moreconsumers shift to handheld devices to shop online. Our latest research shows that just over half(51%) of UK online retailers currently have a tablet optimised website, and with tablet shoppersbeing more likely to make a purchase than smartphone users and also spending more per transaction,we are likely to see more retailers investing in tablet optimisation during 2014.”

The downside of the booming e-commerce in the holiday period is the cost of online shopperswaiting at home for their Christmas gifts. The ‘waiting costs’ will amount to £868 million thisChristmas, according to the latest survey by the British parcels delivery and returns networkCollectPlus.

The survey, which quizzed over 2,000 adults in the UK, revealed that the average Briton willspend 142 minutes waiting for gifts to be delivered this Christmas and almost 32 hours over thecourse of the whole year. 41% of the respondents admitted to have already taken time off work towait at home for their shipments while more than one in four (26%) said they are reluctant to orderonline in general because of delivery issues. The majority of recipients claimed they had evenexperienced the worst case scenario with deliveries either turning up late (79%) or not at all(61%).

The research also showed that people are more likely to wait in for some goods than others, withnearly half of the respondents willing to wait for electronics and technology goods (42%), followedby home and garden-ware (35%). Women are twice as likely as men to wait in for fashion items, whilemen are twice as likely as women to wait in for sport and leisure items.

Neil Ashworth, CEO of CollectPlus, said: “The internet gives shoppers the ability to browse andpurchase goods whenever and wherever they like, so it’s no surprise that online retail sales areexpected to break records this Christmas. However, our research shows that inflexible deliveriesare damaging the overall shopping experience for customers. Part of the appeal of shopping onlineis the convenience it offers, but as well as being able to make their purchases when they want,people also want to be able to get their goods at a time and a place that suits them. Retailersmust offer customers convenience in the delivery process. Click and collect services – whetherin-store or at third party locations such as convenience stores – put the customer back in controland are a great antidote to the problems people have historically faced when shopping online.”

Capgemini’s Webster confirmed: “Click and collect provides the ideal compromise, enablingcustomers to collect their items at a time and place of their choosing, whether from a retailer’shigh-street store, a local shop or from one of the new locker services. So this Christmas,customers will opt to choose for click and collect rather than it happening by accident.”