The Rise of the Online Shopper

Ecommerce has completely changed consumer habits in recent years and it is only predicted to continue to grow in the coming years. Statistics show that more than half of UK consumers now shop online and online spend is predicted to increase by a staggering 29.6% between 2019 and 2024.

Benefits of Ecommerce

It is easy to see why so many consumers prefer online shopping to the high street because it can bring so many benefits to the consumer, including the ability to shop from home, much greater variety and the ability find the best prices on all kinds of goods such as a designer purse which would be more expensive on the high street. Sadly, this has had a negative impact on the high street and forced many retailers to close their doors. This will be further impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak which will lead even more people to shop online and for essentials like groceries.

The Hight Street

While it is a concern for retailers, there are steps that many brick and mortar stores are taking such as setting up online stores, offering click and collect and offering unique shopping opportunities that use the latest technology. Many predict that the high street will also make somewhat of a comeback as people look to get out of their homes and be part of society (this could be particularly true after the Coronavirus outbreak).

Preferred Devices

It is also interesting to look at how online consumer habits are changing too. In 2019, the consumers’ preferred device to shop on was a laptop with half of respondents choosing this platform. Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, meanwhile, were favored by 43% and 24% of shoppers respectively but it is thought that mobile commerce will soon be the preferred method, particularly with ecommerce businesses optimizing their stores for mobile usage.

Overcoming Issues

Another key reason for the continued growth of online shopping has been the advancement of same and next-day delivery options. One of the drawbacks to online shopping previously was that it would take a long time for delivers to arrive but this is now a thing of the past and consumers expect to have their deliveries made swiftly. Another issue that ecommerce has overcome is not being able to examine items and try on clothing. This has somewhat been overcome with a free returns policy which is now commonplace which can take some of the risk away from online shopping.

Online shopping has grown exponentially in recent times and it is predicted to continue in the coming years. This can be attributed to a number of different reasons outlined above and it seems that there will also be a shift towards using a smartphone as opposed to a laptop. This does cause issues for high street retailers but there is some hope that this will be boosted in the near future, especially if steps are taken to entice consumers out of their homes and into their stores.