IMRG found that internet shopping increased by over 70% to
£1.324 billion in December alone – a growth rate 31 times higher
than that shown by High Street figures.
Consumers carried on shopping on-line right up to Christmas,
bucking a trend established in earlier years of sales tailing off
after the first week in December. This, said IMRG, shows increased
confidence in delivery from on-line retailers.
EBay was the most visited site, with 25.5% of the market share,
followed by Amazon at 8.21% and Argos with 2.31%. Other top sites
include Kelkoo, Tesco and Comet.
The report highlighted WH Smith, House of Fraser and Selfridges
as "On-line laggards who failed to embraced internet trading
opportunities at Christmas" and "hemorrhaged sales as a
result."
A broad range of products benefited from the splurge in
spending, but the most notable beneficiaries were on-line retailers
of electrical consumer goods, up a massive 95% on last December's
figures, and retailers of alcoholic drinks – sales of which were up
82% in November on last year, and an additional 3% in December.
According to IMRG the internet shopping market is now 72% larger
in 2003 than it was in 2002, with the record Christmas sales
indicating a watershed in on-line retail.
"Retailing changed this Christmas. There will be no going back
for millions of consumers who have now experienced for themselves
that the internet provides a better way to shop for many products
and services," said Jo Tucker, Managing Director, IMRG.
IMRG estimates "that internet shopping will double in value next
year, in an overall retail sector that is unlikely to grow more
than 4%, and then continue to grow to become 30% of all shopping
within a decade, as shopping becomes increasingly 'customer
focused' rather than 'shop focused'."
