UK online retail spend to jump 30.4% to £75bn by 2024
British spending habits continue to shift remorselessly from bricks and mortar stores to digital outlets according to the latest report by GlobalData, which predicts that a fifth of all retail spend will be conducted online by 2024.
UK Online Retailing 2019-2024 predicts a bumper few years for the sector
UK Online Retailing 2019-2024 predicts a bumper few years await the sector with spending rising 30.4% over the period to hit £75bn, by which point it will account for 19.8% of all retail spend.
Sofie Willmott, lead retail analyst at GlobalData, said: “Clothing specialists continue to develop their online proposition with many players now offering easy to use credit options like Clearpay and Klarna’s buy now, pay later, driving online conversion and giving shoppers another reason to choose the online channel over stores.
“Often first to market with tech developments, ASOS last week launched its ‘See my fit’ augmented reality tool which enables browsers to view selected items of clothing on different size models to help with purchase decisions and potentially reduce return rates.”
While clothing and footwear will remain the largest single market the food and grocery sector is expected to jump into second place with sales expected to rise £5bn to £16.2bn over the next five years as consumers prioritise convenience and choice.
Grocery deliveries are taking off worldwide, most recently with Indonesian online grocery platform HappyFresh teaming up with messaging application Line in Thailand to give users a mobile grocery shopping experience.
The survey was based on the responses of 10,000 online shoppers.