UK e-Retail 2008 - Verdict Research:

Verdict Research: Though online retailing is undeniably the most dynamic aspect of retail, it remains characterised by a lack of reliable market information and analysis. By combining a comprehensive survey of the online shopping habits of over 4,000 consumers and thorough analysis of the online market, the main players, trends and forecasting techniques, this report is a uniquely valuable tool.

Report Highlights
With the number of Internet shoppers at all time high and online spending growing at the fastest rate for six years, e-retail shows no sign of succumbing to the economic downturn. The e-retail market grew by 35.0% between 2006 and 2007, its fastest pace for six years and significantly faster than that of the total retail market growth of just 3.6%. An AB bias to online shoppers persists, but there has been a substantial rise in the number of C2s and DEs, driven by a falll in the cost of broadband. The number of C2 shoppers has increased by 35.5% to 4.2m and the number of DE online shoppers has increased by 38.9% to reach 2.5m. Electricals and food & grocery dominate the online market, accounting for around half of all sales. With a growth rate of 39.5% in 2007, second largest sub sector food & grocery is on course to overtake electricals in the top spot. But these two will still constitute by far the largest two online sectors in value terms in 2012.
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CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6
Key Findings 6
Main Conclusions 8
CHAPTER 2 MARKET ANALYSIS 14
Market Definition & Research Methodology 14
Key Market Facts 15
Consumers Access to Internet 16
Internet Usage 19
Online Shopper Population 23
Online Market Expenditure 27
How Spending is Channelled 28
Online Retail Sales as Percentage of All Retail Sales 30
Expenditure per Head 32
Frequency of Purchase & Transaction Values 35
CHAPTER 3 STRATEGIC ISSUES 38
Improved Technology 38
Mobile Internet Access 41
Security and Consumer Confidence 43
Threat of eBay 47
Killing the High Street or Route to Market? 50
Adaptation of Specialist Stores to Internet 52
Online Initiatives to Drive Store Footfall 52
Store Initiatives to Drive Website Traffic 54
Current and Future Trends 54
Market Cycle 55
Office of Fair Trading - OFT 57
Getting it Right at Every Stage of the Online Purchase 59
Choosing to Shop Online 60
Finding an Online Retailer 61
Choosing an Online Retailer 61
Ensuring High Online Transactions 61
Ensuring Repeat Custom 62
Fulfilment 62
CHAPTER 4 FORECAST & OUTLOOK 63
Growth in Population with Internet Access 63
Growth in Internet Access and Online Shopping Population 64
Growth in Online Shopper Population 65
Shopping Population Forecasts by Sector 67
Spending Forecasts 68
Spending per Head Forecasts 70
Online Spending Forecasts by Retail Sector 71
CHAPTER 5 CONSUMER ANALYSIS 81
Summary 81
Internet Shopper Penetration by Region 84
Internet Shopping Profile by Age 86
Internet Shopper Profile by Gender 90
Internet Shopper Profile by Socio-demographic Group 94
Shopping Frequency & Transaction Value 96
Frequent Online Shoppers 100
Consumer Behaviour 101
Internet as a Research Tool 101
Choosing the Internet to Shop 103
Finding a Retailer 106
Choosing a Retailer 107
Returning to a Retailer 110
Impact on In-store Retailing 112
CHAPTER 6 SECTOR ANALYSIS 114
Sector Comparisons 114
Online Sector Spending by Gender 118
Conversion Rates 121
Books 124
Major Players 130
Outlook 132
Clothing & Footwear 134
Major Players 141
Outlook 145
DIY & Gardening 147
Major Players 155
Outlook 157
Electricals 160
Base: Online electricals shoppers 15+ 165
Major Players 165
Outlook 168
Food & Grocery 170
Major Players 177
Outlook 180
Furniture & Floorcoverings 182
Major Players 189
Outlook 191
Health & Beauty 193
Major Players 202
Outlook 204
Homewares 206
Major Players 212
Outlook 214
Music & Video 216
Digital Downloading 220
Major Players 224
Outlook 227
CHAPTER 7 GLOSSARY 229
Abbreviations 229
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Table 1: Online market size 2002-2007 27
Table 2: Online spending by sector 2002-2007 28
Table 3: Year-on-year sector % growth rates 2002-07 29
Table 4: Retail spending breakdown between Internet and the rest 2007 31
Table 5: Spend per head by sector 2007 34
Table 6: Frequency of shopping by sector 2007 36
Table 7: Online shopping population summary 2012 on 2007 67
Table 8: Online retail spending sector summary 2012 on 2007 71
Table 9: Online penetration by sector 2012 on 2007 72
Table 10: Online spending by sector (books to furniture) 2002-2012 73
Table 11: Online spending by sector (health to total) 2002-2012 77
Table 12: Online spending growth by sector (books to furniture) 2002-2012 79
Table 13: Online spending growth by sector (health to total) 2002-2012 79
Table 14: Online as % of total retail spending (books to furniture) 2002-12 80
Table 15: Online as % of total retail spending by sector (health to total) 2002-2012 80
Table 16: Internet users and online shopper profiles 2007 81
Table 17: Profile of online shoppers 2002-2007 83
Table 18: Number of online shoppers by age group 2002-2007 86
Table 19: Average annual spend per online shopper by age 2002-2007 88
Table 20: Online spending by age group 2007 89
Table 21: Online spending by socio-economic group 2007 95
Table 22: Online shopper profile by demographic 2007 97
Table 23: Researching products before purchasing by sector 2007 102
Table 24: Online shopping v physical shopping October 2007 103
Table 25: What is important when buying online? % of online shoppers by sector October 2007 114
Table 26: Why buy from one retailer in preference to another? 2007 116
Table 27: Sectors A-F breakdown of spending by gender 2007 118
Table 28: Sectors F-Z breakdown of spending by gender ( continued ) 2007 119
Table 29: Conversion rates of main featured retailers 2007 - Electricals to Books 121
Table 30: Conversion rates of main featured retailers 2007 - Grocery to Health & Beauty 122
Table 31: Online spending on books 2002-2007 124
Table 32: Clothing & footwear spending online 2002-2007 134
Table 33: DIY & gardening spending online 2002-2007 147
Table 34: Electricals spending online 2002-2007 160
Table 35: Food & grocery spending online 2002-2007 170
Table 36: Online furniture & floorcoverings 2002-2007 182
Table 37: Health & beauty spending online 2002-2007 193
Table 38: Homewares spending online 2002-2007 206
Table 39: Music & video spending 2002-2007 216

Figure 1: Key online shopping facts 2007 15
Figure 2: Internet access by gender 2005-2007 16
Figure 3: Internet access by age 2005-2007 18
Figure 4: Internet access by socio-economic group 2005-2007 18
Figure 5: Uses cited for the Internet 2007 19
Figure 6: Internet use breakdown by gender 2007 20
Figure 7: Age breakdown of Internet food & grocery shopping usage 2007 21
Figure 8: Age breakdown of Internet non-food shopping usage 2007 22
Figure 9: Number of online shoppers 2002-2007 23
Figure 10: Online shoppers as proportion of those with Internet access 2005-2007 24
Figure 11: Number of online shoppers by gender 2005-2007 25
Figure 12: Number of online shoppers by age 2005-2007 26
Figure 13: Number of online shoppers by socio-economic group 2005-2007 26
Figure 14: Breakdown of online spend by market sector 2007 28
Figure 15: Online sales as a proportion of total UK retail 2007 30
Figure 16: Average online spend per head 2002-2007 32
Figure 17: Average online transaction value & trips per year 2002-2007 35
Figure 18: Impact of technology on market growth 2008-2012 38
Figure 19: Impact of mobile Internet technology 2008-2012 41
Figure 20: Internet security threats and remedies 2008 43
Figure 21: Factors in attractiveness of eBay proposition 2008 47
Figure 22: Major differences in the quality of Internet and shopping trips to physical stores 2008 50
Figure 23: Initiatives to develop a seamless multichannel operation 2008 53
Figure 24: Online sales year-on-year growth: three phases 1998-2012 56
Figure 25: Areas important to consumers at every stage of the purchase 2007 59
Figure 26: Growth in adult population with Internet access 2006-2012 63
Figure 27: Internet users and online shoppers 2005-2012 64
Figure 28: Percentage of adult population shopping online 2002-2012 65
Figure 29: Year-on-year growth in online shopping population 2002-2012 66
Figure 30: Value of online retail spending 2002-2012 68
Figure 31: Online spending per shopper 2002-2012 70
Figure 32: Penetration: online shoppers % all adults by region 2007 84
Figure 33: Age profile of online shoppers 2002-2007 86
Figure 34: Total online spending by age 2002-2007 87
Figure 35: Total online shoppers by gender 2002-2007 90
Figure 36: Total online spending by gender 2002-2007 91
Figure 37: Online shopping gender profile by category 2007 92
Figure 38: Average spend per head by gender 2002-2007 93
Figure 39: Socio-economic profile of Internet shoppers 2002-2007 94
Figure 40: Average number of online shopping trips in the past 12 months by gender and total 2004-2007 96
Figure 41: Average number of online shopping trips in the past 12 months by age 2004-2007 98
Figure 42: Average transaction size by age 2004-2007 99
Figure 43: Frequent online shoppers 2002-2007 100
Figure 44: Researching before purchases by demographic 2007 101
Figure 45: Consumers preference of shopping method October 2007 105
Figure 46: Methods of finding website 2005-2007 106
Figure 47: Why do shoppers buy from one site over another 2005-2007 107
Figure 48: Why do shoppers buy from one site over another (Cont'd) 2004-2007 109
Figure 49: Reasons online shoppers return to websites 2007 110
Figure 50: Alternatives to buying online 2004-2007 112
Figure 51: Why shop for books online? October 2005-2007 125
Figure 52: Books: Internet v In-store October 2007 126
Figure 53: Books penetration of online shoppers October 2005-2007 127
Figure 54: Where purchased if not online: Books October 2007 128
Figure 55: Which retailers do online bookshoppers buy from? October 2006-2007 129
Figure 56: Why shop for clothing & footwear online? October 2005-2007 135
Figure 57: Clothing & footwear: Internet v In-store October 2007 137
Figure 58: Clothing & footwear penetration of online shoppers October 2005-2007 137
Figure 59: Where purchased if not online: Clothing & footwear October 2007 139
Figure 60: Which retailers do online clothing & footwear shoppers buy from? October 2006-2007 140
Figure 61: Why shop for DIY online? October 2005-2007 149
Figure 62: DIY: Internet v In-store October 2007 150
Figure 63: DIY penetration of online shoppers October 2005-2007 151
Figure 64: Where purchased if not online: DIY October 2007 152
Figure 65: Which retailers do online DIY shoppers buy from? October 2006-2007 153
Figure 66: Why shop for electricals online? October 2005-2007 161
Figure 67: Electricals: Internet v In-store October 2007 162
Figure 68: Electricals penetration of online shoppers October 2005-2007 163
Figure 69: Where purchased if not online: Electricals October 2007 164
Figure 70: Which retailers do online electricals shoppers buy from? Oct 2006-2007 165
Figure 71: Why shop for food & grocery online? October 2005-2007 171
Figure 72: Food & Grocery: Internet v In-store October 2007 172
Figure 73: Food & grocery penetration of online shoppers October 2005-2007 173
Figure 74: Where purchased if not online: Food & grocery October 2007 175
Figure 75: Which retailers do online food & grocery shoppers buy from? October 2006-2007 176
Figure 76: Why shop online for furniture & floorcoverings? Oct 2005-2007 183
Figure 77: Furniture & Floorcoverings: Internet v In-store October 2007 185
Figure 78: Furniture & floorcoverings penetration of online shoppers October 2005-2007 186
Figure 79: Where purchased if not online: furniture & floorcoverings Oct 07 187
Figure 80: Which retailers do online furniture & floorcoverings shoppers buy from October 2006-2007 188
Figure 81: Why shop for health & beauty online? October 2005-2007 195
Figure 82: Health & beauty: Internet v In-store October 2007 197
Figure 83: Health & beauty penetration of online shoppers Oct 2005-2007 198
Figure 84: Where purchased if not online: Health & beauty October 2007 200
Figure 85: Which sites do online health & beauty shoppers buy from? October 2006-2007 201
Figure 86: Why shop for homewares online? October 2005-2007 207
Figure 87: Homewares: Internet v In-store October 2007 208
Figure 88: Homewares penetration of online shoppers October 2005-2007 209
Figure 89: Where purchased if not online: Homewares October 2007 210
Figure 90: Which sites do online homewares shoppers buy from? October 2006-2007 211
Figure 91: Why shop for music & video online? October 2005-2007 217
Figure 92: Music & Video: Internet v In-store October 2007 218
Figure 93: Music & video penetration of online shoppers Oct 2005-2007 219
Figure 94: Have you ever downloaded free music files from the Internet? October 2004-2007 221
Figure 95: Where purchased if not online: music & video October 2007 222
Figure 96: Which retailers do online music & video shoppers buy from? October 2006-2007 223
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