Online shopping in the UK has seen growth of over 17 per cent compared with the same time last year according to a report by Sage Pay, the UK’s leading payment provider.
UK shoppers are turning to online commerce, as they now trust their suppliers to deliver their orders on time. This is good news for social commerce brands who use e-commerce extensively to complement their in store transactions.
Increased online commerce
Sage Pay, a company that process payments for over than 36,000 businesses in the UK, said that the average amount of spend had risen by £3 ($5) to £91 ($145). This is the third year in a row where the number of consumers has increased.
It seems good news for online commerce sites in the UK.
Simon Black, managing director of Sage Pay said: “The growth of transactions year-on-year is huge; between 12pm and 2pm we recorded a 4.7 percent increase in transactions on last year, which is great news for e-retailers”.
Growth in mobile commerce
Mobile commerce sales are up too and are predicted to double by 2013 as the retail world becomes increasingly multi-channelled. Social businesses with active social media and mobile strategies are poised to make great gains with their online commerce activities.
For social commerce sites, mounting evidence suggests that Facebook still dominates the ‘big four’ social networking sites, including LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Analytics sites now produce surveys reporting on the brands standing in the market.
Channel Advisor saw a huge growth for eBuyer in November, reporting a 178 per cent growth in their number of Facebook fans.
eBuyer offered a clearance sale on their Facebook page on November 28th, leading to a surge in demand which the site struggled to cope with.
Armando Sanchez, managing director of eBuyer, posted a message thanking customers for their purchases. But the eBuyer team were quick to blog about the sale and explain why some customers were not able to take advantage of the offer.
Click and collect
But traditional businesses need not worry. Shoppers still click and collect 1 in 10 purchases made online, according to retail trade association IMRG. There is still a chance to make the personal connection from brand to customer when your customer collects their purchase.
If your customer engagement strategy is mature and your customer response management system works across traditional and social channels, then you still have a good opportunity to gain new customers.
And most importantly, if your strategy is right –- maintain them.
