UK shoppers will spend approximately £17.4 billion online in the final nine weeks of 2012, according to IMRG and Capgemini.
A new report by IMRG and Capgemini has predicted that consumers will spend more than £17 billion in online shopping over the Christmas retail season.
The research has revealed that £920 million will be spent in Internet shopping via mobile devices in the two weeks commencing December 3. In the first quarter of 2012, 8.2 per cent of total online sales were made through devices such as smartphones and tablets; the figure is expected to climb to 20 per cent by the end of the fourth quarter.
The increased mobile forecast is “a shift in the way that consumers interact with brands online”, says Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG. She explains that while it is still common for consumers to browse the shops at weekends, she believes they make the final purchase on the Internet at Monday lunchtime.
Consumers are also carrying out competitor price monitoring on their mobile devices while watching television in the evenings – an activity known as ‘second screening’; this price intelligence enables them to make more informed purchasing decisions.
The increase in online sales during these peak shopping weeks will be of huge relief to retailers, says Chris Webster, head of retail and technology at Capgemini. He believes that mobile access is a “must have”, not a “nice to have” for retailers this Christmas.
The IMRG membership community was set up to develop and share the latest best practice advice to enable retailers to succeed in the competitive online market.
© Profitero 2012
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Pricing intelligence company Profitero works with retailers and manufacturers to help them increase sales and maximise their profits by using competitor price, promotions and stock information at scale. For more information on Profitero price intelligence and competitor monitoring, visit www.profitero.com or email sales@profitero.com.
