The accountancy firm, Deloitte have today announced that the UK online retail market will hit £25bn in 2010, a massive increase of £16bn in just 5 years (2005 UK online retail market £9bn).
There are a number of other interesting findings that can be taken from the report. Firstly Deloitte state that nearly 7 out of 10 people will buy some of their Christmas gifts online this festive season. They also found that 46% of people now buy more products online compared to last year. The report goes on to suggest that retailers need to offer a more flexible service, as 61% said they wanted options such as in-store collection when purchasing online.
Deloitte also investigated the opinions of the online retailers, they discovered that 75% of online retailers have witnessed increased sales compared to this time last year and that 85% of retailers expect increased sales to continue for the next 12 months.
As online sales continue to increase, companies must focus more and more on the conversion path of customers and ensure that they are visible at every stage. This will mean that all aspects of affiliate and search marketing will be as crucial as ever in all marketing plans in the coming months.