Holiday season shopping rates skyrocketed last Dec— driven by e-commerce—to propel United Kingdom’s retail industry way beyond everyone’s expectations.
Out of all 2019 holiday shopping sales, internet sales accounted for 28 percent, to beat the 25 percent recorded a year earlier. In total, the UK made sales worth a whopping £99.26 billion throughout last year’s festive shopping spree.
But why are shoppers pacing the shift to internet shopping? One analyst, Monica Peart, VP of eMarketer—the research firm behind these statistics— cites “holiday store shutdowns” as the major cause for this massive transformation to digital shopping.
Physical Stores Suffered!
But internet sales increased, in part, at the compromise of physical-store sales, which plummeted over 3.5 percent (to £71.27 billion)—the worst dip, since 2010, according to eMarketer.
2020 Forecasts
This 2020, the researcher predicts the total retail sales (for the whole year) will increase by 1.2 percent to £487.30 billion.
“Brexit, in particular, has had its effects on the retail sector market for over two years, leading to fluctuating results,” Peart said. “These fluctuating results may go on throughout the Brexit transition period.”
Online retail, which contributes to a significant portion of retail sales in the UK, will proliferate 8.9 percent in 2020 to touch £114.26 billion.
Mobile Commerce Explosion!
An e-commerce explosion awaits the UK in 2020 as Mobile commerce —internet sales through smartphones & tablets—is predicted to surpass 50 percent of all e-commerce sales. Mobile sales will increase by 15 percent to reach £58.05 billion.
Smartphones will still lead the mobile commerce race. Last year, they made up more than 60 percent of all m-commerce sales. Tablets accounted for 36% percent of Mobile sales.
Shoppers love the convenience of smartphone e-commerce because they are an easy way to shop on the go. More shoppers now use their smartphones (more often) to buy different products.
Parting Shot
With the buzz of activity going on in the online retail market, it’s no surprise that e-commerce outshined physical stores in last-year’s holiday retail sales. The future is even brighter for the online sector, which is working to streamline the shopping experience for customers through tactics like Mobile commerce.
Author Bio: Payment industry guru Taylor Cole is a passionate payments expert who understands the complex world of secure trading. He also writes non-fiction, on subjects ranging from personal finance to stocks to cryptopay. He enjoys eating pie in his backyard porch, as should all right-thinking people.