UK Online Sales Boom
The growth in broadband Internet access has driven UK online sales to a five-year high, according to Verdict Research.
The annual growth rate for online spending rose steadily from 18.3 percent in 2002 to 33.4 percent in 2006, says Verdict. The 2006 growth rate is almost 13 times faster than that of the retail sector as a whole, the consultancy says. In 2006, online sales hit a record total of ₤10.9 billion (US$21.6 billion), up from ₤3.2billion in 2002. Going forward, Verdict expects UK online sales to reach ₤28.0 billion in 2011, equivalent to 8.9 percent of all retail spending. Wider use of low-cost broadband services is a leading reason for the boom in online shopping, says Verdict, as is the investment by major retailers in transactional Websites. Future growth in online spending will be driven by consumers shopping online more often, rather than by an expansion of the online shopping population, Verdict says. The consultancy says it expects the number of online shoppers to grow much more slowly between 2006 and 2011 than in previous years. Related Links
www.verdict.co.uk
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