UK ecommerce is set to thrive in 2016 as British shoppers are set to pay out £60bn online, according to RetailMeNot, with an average spend of £1,372.
The face of traditional retail as we know it is changing, and it has been for some time. Indeed, figures published on 14 September highlighted continued declining footfall on the UK's high streets.
But the world of ecommerce is also changing significantly too. Real Business highlighted this during an interview with Runar Reistrup, CEO of Depop – an app described as the baby of eBay and Instagram, based on its fusion of online shopping and social media.
With these trends in mind, a study from Vouchercodes.co.uk parent company RetailMeNot and the Centre for Retail Research has discovered the proliferation of smartphones and tablets as a means to make purchases will result in Brits spending £60bn online in 2016.
The report revealed mobiles will account for £8.9bn, which demonstrates how lucrative the channel can be for businesses. Both Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram introduced new ways for SMEs to market to customers via the devices in September, so that it's not just the large players that can capitalise on the mobile movement.
Breaking figures down further, shoppers are set to spend an average of £1,372. However, multichannel shoppers – those using PC and mobiles – are set to spend almost twice as much as PC-only users, at £1,962 and £1,014 respectively.
“Retailers that have been quick off the mark to improve and more efficiently personalise the multichannel shopping experience are now seeing their investment pay off. Comparatively, retailers that have yet to fully embrace mobile and tablet devices are at risk of falling further behind the competition if they do not act quickly,” said said Giulio Montemagno, senior VP of International, RetailMeNot.
The amount spent by both multichannel and PC-only shoppers, meanwhile, has increased significantly from respective spends of £1,531 and £566 in 2014 to suggest that consumers are becoming more comfortable with ecommerce.
In terms of average spent per transaction, PC users still spend more at £57.53, but, of course, PC-only users make fewer purchases. As for mobiles, an average tablet sale is £51.71 while an average smartphone payment amounts to £47.01.
Further growth per transaction is expected next year, meanwhile, with increases of 2.7 per cent, 5.7 per cent and 12.5 per cent expected across PCs, tablets and smartphones, with respective averages of £60.45, £54.91 and £52.02.
Montemagno added: “Mobile shoppers typically spend longer researching and comparing products before making a purchase, but as the mobile shopping experience improves we are seeing mobile and tablet users shop online more frequently and spend more each time.”
