January 21 2008
Christmas 2008 e-tail sales expected to be 50% bigger
If you thought the Christmas 2007 e-tail season was big, then just wait until 2008 which could see another 50% increase in e-tail sales.
The steady growth in internet retailing is expected to continue this year and will largely ignore the doom laden predictions that feature in the business section of every tabloid and broadsheet, but it marks a slow down in growth. Are we starting to hit the e-tailing bumpers?
According to the latest Logan Tod Online Shopping Index (www.logantod.co.uk) over 50% of the UK’s online shoppers intending to increase their online spend in the run up to Christmas 2008.
“More than 80% of adults in the UK shopped online in 2007, which is a rise of 5% on 2006’s figures,” says Matthew Tod, Chief Executive at Logan Tod. “We believe that the key drivers for Christmas 2008’s predicted growth will be the older age groups. The over 40s and over 50s are still discovering the benefits of shopping online and this trend will doubtless continue to next year.”
“It is worth noting, however, that the 35-44 year old age group should still be the ones doing the most shopping online overall. It is the 44+ age group where the bigger opportunity lies to drive growth for most store owners” adds Matthew Tod.
Last year’s Index from the e-commerce consultancy estimated that the largest area of growth in adult shoppers would be amongst light shoppers and this year’s figures confirm the prediction - revealing an increase of almost 15% in this category. There was a less than 10% increase in both the medium and heavy shopper categories.
As with last year’s results, many UK shoppers find the convenience of 24 hour shopping (67%) and lack of crowds (68%) the key benefits to shopping online over the Christmas period. However, the most important consideration for shoppers (69% of those questioned) is price.
“Price seems to be more of an issue with consumers than in the previous Online Shopping Index report” says Matthew Tod. “This means that online competition is really heating up and for e-tailers to continue to be competitive they must ensure their sites focus on combining value with best possible service to the key age groups to grow revenue during Christmas 2008.”
So will it come true? Last years prediction was for a 40% increase, the actual increase according to IMRG was 54%, so this years 50% prediction is actually predicting a levelling off in growth. The growth is also due to come from the 40 year olds, but here at IR we’re not sure that the 40+ group has that extra cash. With mortgage payments rising, food prices rising, and utilities increasing by 15-20% any ‘spare’ cash is being spent on essentials rather than saved for next Christmas.
