British Retail Consortium reports tablet fuelled internet shopping boom
The growing popularity of tablet computers is fueling an internet shopping boom according to a new survey compiled by the British Retail Consortium and Google.
The Online Retail Monitor found that consumers use such devices to search for online goods more than twice as often as a year ago, with a 132 per cent surge in retail web searches across the second quarter fueling sales growth.
In tandem with this jump equivalent searches on smartphones also rose by 66 per cent to send the total number of internet shopping searches up by 15 per cent.
Within the sector DIY and gardening enjoyed the greatest growth spurt, rising 32 per cent in total and 170 per cent on tablets.
BRC director general Helen Dickinson attributed this increase to the increasing availability of technology which no longer chains consumers to their PC’s and which is increasingly encouraging global trade.
Dickinson, said: "These results also show the changes the internet is bringing to the international retail market. The considerable increase this month in the number of UK consumers searching overseas retailers show that barriers are increasingly being broken down. UK retailers are already responding well to these changes and will be keen to continue seeing equivalent increases in overseas customers searching them out."