Online sales see fastest growth for 13 years

In Britain, the ’Internet Shopping Capital of the World’ (q.v.), sales for September 2013 rose 13% from August, like-for-like comparison with September 2012 saw a rise of 20% between years (IMRG / Capgemini).

Clothing, especially lingerie and undergarments, saw strong increases on the success of sites like ASOS.com.

Mobile devices, including smartphones from Apple and Samsung saw a rise of 150% compared with 2012 - which directly impacts on shopping via mobile devices also.

Experts say that online sales have been boosted in particular by rapid delivery options, such as same-day delivery offered by companies like Amazon, ASOS, Dixons and Next. The September 2013 figures see the fastest increase per month since the e-Retail Sales Index was set up 13 years ago.

Over 10% of all UK Retail Sales are now online, with the ratio predicted to rise to 20%+ by 2020.

21% of UK families shop online for food and groceries compared to under 10% for the rest of the world. EU research shows that 82% of British Internet users regularly shop online, which is the highest figure within the 28 member states:

..1: UK 82%
=2: Denmark 79%
=2: Sweden 79%
..4: Germany 77%
..5: Luxembourg 73%
..6: Finland 72%

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=26: Italy 29%
=26: Estonia 29%
..28: Romania 11%

UK leads the EU for online purchases of clothing and food, Sweden is top for travel, and Luxembourg is top for books (perhaps something to do with Amazon European HQ?)

UK Shoppers are more active than US as online food and grocery retail has not taken off to the same extent in America.

Like for like comparisons with September 2012 in the UK see clothing up 18%, lingerie 30%, accessories 20% and footwear 20%.

Current trends seem to indicate a likely strong Christmas season for online retailers - time to get all your ducks in a row then ...