UK Shoppers Have Embraced the Online Revolution

95% of Brits have bought something online in the last six months according to research conducted by leading global customer experience and business process outsourcing expert, Webhelp.

An online survey of 500 UK adults, revealed that overall only 5% of people said they hadn’t bought anything online in the last six months and that figure drops to 3% of 55-64s and just 1% of 18-24s. Everyone earning more than £10k per annum said they had bought something online in the past six months.

Clothing was the popular online purchase, with 87% of the youngest age group (18-24), 86% of women and 81% of 25-34s and 45-54s claiming to have purchased clothing online in the last six months.

The next most popular categories for online purchases were groceries and books, with groceries being the second most popular choice in all groups surveyed, except for those earning less than £10k pa, and those aged 45-54 and over 65, who preferred books.

Amazon was the online site most likely to have been responsible for people’s most recent purchase, followed by Tesco and then Sainsbury’s. Overall 39% of people said they had bought most recently from Amazon, 15% from Tesco and 8% from Sainsbury’s.

The top 10 sites are as follows:

  1. Amazon – 39%
  2. Tesco – 15%
  3. Sainsbury’s – 8%
  4. M&S – 5%
  5. eBay – 5%
  6. Asda – 5%
  7. Very – 3%
  8. John Lewis – 3%
  9. Next – 1%
  10. New Look – 1%

David Turner, CEO of Webhelp UK, India and SA, said: “It is perhaps surprising that people said their favourite thing to buy online is clothing and yet the online retailer most likely to have been responsible for their latest online purchase is not a traditional clothing retailer. This indicates there is an opportunity for clothing retailers to up their online game and challenge the dominance Amazon has in the online retail market.

“Webhelp’s results clearly indicate that online shopping is now very much a part of our every-day lives. Retailers need to ensure their online customer experience is seamless and delivers what customers are looking for if they are to challenge in this very competitive market.”

Click here to view our infographic which outlines our findings in a bit more detail. To view the full survey report, click here.