U.S., Europe ecommerce growth driven by frequency of online shopping
The study of 9,000 consumers and 100 major retailers reveals that most consumers expect to shop online at least once a month this year.
In the UK online shopping accounted for just over 12% of retail sales during 2013. During 2014, 16% growth in online retail will see that percentage of retail sales grow to 34%.
In 2014, US shoppers are expected to spend a total of $1,835 online and European shoppers $1,243. According to Giulio Montemagno, SVP of international at RetailMeNot, “growth is being mainly driven by an increase in the frequency of consumers shopping online and spending more money through online channels while in previous years ecommerce growth came primarily from an ever-growing number of first time online shoppers”.
“With such a competitive retail environment it’s more important than ever that retailers look to mobile devices and the web to incentivize shoppers to make purchases online and in-store,” added Montemagno, “Successful retailers will consider the Internet not as a threat but as a powerful complement which can help them increase their sales.”
The value of online retail sales in Europe was predicted to reach $218 billion in 2014, with the UK, Germany and France accounting for the greater part (81%).