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Friday, 16th December 2011, 08:31:24
Festive ecommerce sales 'flatlining with no UK growth'
Ecommerce sales in the run-up to Christmas have seen a levelling off as the number of people buying online slows.
A new report by payment services provider Computop revealed that the online market has experienced a flatlining of consumer sales globally and that there has been no growth in the UK in the past month.
Despite high levels of online activity occurring due to the Black Friday and Cyber Weekend events, Computop stated that compared to last year's Christmas shopping period, this year's is falling behind.
Conclusions were reached through the analysis of payment patterns across the company's global network, which handles $5 billion (£3.1 billion) annually in turnover.
Findings from the data showed that UK retailers experienced no growth in turnover, while eurozone businesses saw a 15 per cent rise in consumer activity and 22 per cent growth in the US - but the figures are still lower than those in 2010.
Speaking about the findings, Ralf Gladis, chief executive of Computop, said: "What is most interesting about this analysis is that it indicates that 2011 could be the first year, since shopping online became mainstream in the mid 1990s, that e-retailers in the UK will not experience a significant growth in online sales."
However he added that the findings could symbolise a more fragile market for ecommerce companies as we enter 2012.
"This data shows that e-commerce continues to be a key growth engine for retailers, even if there are regional variations and impacts from the current economic downturn," Mr Gladis commented.
For the analysis, Computop looked at the number of orders as well as basket values and turnovers of 1,600 international online retailers in the travel and gaming portals and discovered a variation between European consumers, US-based buyers and those shopping in the UK.
Ecommerce retailers in Britain did experience a nine per cent increase in basket value for the average customer, but a seven per cent drop in the number of orders made overall meant that there was a break-even point with no retail sales growth in comparison to last year.
These figures may come as a surprise to some retail bosses, as reports earlier this week showed a boom in sales due to online promotional events for the last week in November and the subsequent days following the standard pay day dates.
Amazon predicted online spending to increase by 19 per cent last Monday - the day known as Cyber Monday, according to the Guardian.
The online retailer said it expected that sales would peak at 21:00 GMT and that more payments would be made from mobile phones and tablets compared to last year.
Simon James at MoneySupermarket.com, which looked at the sales of Amazon in the lead-up to the festive period, said: "Shopping online for Christmas gifts increases in popularity every year. You are also far more likely to find a cheaper deal."
He added that consumers may be more hesitant to purchase online until they have scoured around for the cheapest product and the best delivery options.
The Centre for Retail Research also suggested that Britons will spend around £13.4 billion online this Christmas and that mobile phone sales will account for 12 per cent of spending on the internet.
"Mobile is going to be a really big deal this year," mentioned the centre's professor Joshua Bamfield. "We're thinking spending on mobile could total around £1.64 billion and that's grown from close to zero last year."
Posted by Phil Williams
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Categories: | Ecommerce |
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