E-retailing in UK

By on June 12, 2012

E-retailing is growing in the United Kingdom at a rapid pace with sales having attained in 10 billion by 2010.  This increased to another 10% in the next five years. For instance, Lamba (2003) has estimated that e-retailing is developing rapidly every year. It adds that several people buy books, groceries, clothes and even DVDs by e-shopping at present and the trend is said to increase in future.  A report from the Interactive Media in Retail Group says that there are about 4 million people in United Kingdom who spend an average of 3000GBP to 5000GBP per year in online purchase. The following figure shows the details of products that are most purchased by online shoppers in UK

Figure 1: Products preferred most by e-shoppers in UK (Source: Lamba, 2003)
Figure 1: Products preferred most by e-shoppers in UK (Source: Lamba, 2003)

As the above figure shows, grocery stands in the third place in the category of products most shopped by online shoppers in UK. It has been estimated that grocery contributes to half of total of UK’s e-retailing (Gourdin, 2006).

E-Grocery shopping alone adds up to around a billion GBP in UK argues (Christopher, 1998). When it comes to grocery, there are only few grocers in UK. However, they are spread across the whole of United Kingdom in offering their services. The top most players in UK’s grocery market are Tesco, Sainsbury, ASDA, Marks and Spencer and Morison. Among these, the major players in offering services through online that is e-retailing services to clients are Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury. The following figure illustrates the same.

Figure 2: E-grocery retailing sales revenue at UK (Source: Bolduc, 2011)
Figure 2: E-grocery retailing sales revenue at UK (Source: Bolduc, 2011)

From the above figure it is understood that e-retailing is an important activity of food retailers of UK and they are generating greater revenue through it.

References

  • Lamba A J (2003), The Art Of Retailing, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi, p 307.
  • Christopher M (1998), Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Dorling Kindersley, New Delhi, p 14.
  • Gourdin K N (2006), Global logistics management: a competitive advantage for the 21st century, Blackwell Publishing, UK, p 2.
  • Bolduc M (2011), The UK retailing bloodbath, Retrieved on April 3, 2012, from http://www.tradingfloor.com/posts/the-uk-retail-bloodbath-153027159

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