Start your on-line retailing now
Research, carried out by accountancy firm Deloitte, claims the online retail market, worth £9bn in the UK in 2005, will leap to £25bn by 2010, as more consumers switch to the convenience of online purchasing. This means that 70% of shoppers this Christmas could be doing part of their shopping on-line, the research also found that 46% of people buy more products online now compared to the previous year.
In a survey 61% of people said that internet retailers need to offer a more flexible service, such as in-store collection.
The research also claims that about 75% of retailers say online sales have increased compared to this time last year, while 85% expect them to increase over the next 12 months.
Ian Geddes, retail consulting partner at Deloitte, said:
“Online retailing continues to rise at a much faster pace than the overall retail market. As recently as 2005, the online market was worth under £9bn. By 2010, we forecast the market will be worth more than £25bn. While this is still a relatively small part of the total retail market, the influence of online has a much wider reach. The digital age has embedded itself in mainstream life.”
Now could be the time for smaller retailers to jump on board and offer services that the bigger companies can’t. Appealing to a local niche market could be one way of doing this by offering either free delivery or collection from a shop.
