A new report by Hamburg-based secondary market research organization yStats.com, “UK B2C E-Commerce Sales Forecasts: 2015 to 2018”, sheds light on the growth prospects of the world’s third largest online retail market. Though the market is already advanced, with B2C E-Commerce share of retail sales at double-digit numbers, it is still expected to observe further increase in sales in the next several years.
The UK was the third largest B2C E-Commerce market in the world in terms of sales and the largest in Europe in 2014. It is also one of the most advanced: online shopper penetration in the UK is the highest of the EU and all OECD countries, with close to 80% of Internet users making their purchases online. Also, by penetration on total retail sales in the country, B2C E-Commerce in the UK ranks first among the leading markets worldwide and is predicted to keep this position in the near future.
Nevertheless, some major primary sources agree on the fact that online retail in the UK still has a room for growth. Their predictions concerning growth rates vary from high single-digit to low double-digit numbers for the period for the next three to four years. As a result, the B2C E-Commerce share of total retail sales in the UK is forecasted to reach new heights of more than 15%. And yet, relative to other leading B2C E-Commerce markets the expected growth rate is modest, even compared to other advanced European markets, Germany and France. Due to rapid advancement of emerging markets, especially China, the UK’s share of global B2C E-Commerce sales is expected to decrease slightly in 2018.
The UK’s B2C E-Commerce market is not only one of the highest ranking in terms of market size, but also a trend setter. Omnichannel retail is a major topic in the UK, as the surging popularity of click-and-collect option blurs the boundaries between online and offline retail. Multichannel merchants such as Tesco and Asda are exploring the ways of benefiting from this trend in competition with major pure online retailers, such as Amazon.
