How The English Buy Online?

E-commerce is now becoming one of the fastest developing branches of the economy. While online shopping growth surged to 24.8% globally in 2017 when comparing to the previous year, 87% of UK internet users are shopping online.

And how does the UK e-commerce activity look when looking particularly at English consumers?

We’ve analyzed several millions of online transactions made by users in 2017 to find out precisely how much money is being spent as per types of users’ devices, hottest months for e-shopping, most popular days of the week and even favorite time of the day. Our report helps to understand how does England compare with Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole.

England’s statistics

English internet users are likely to choose mobile devices over the traditional desktop PCs or laptops – 50% of all the analysed transactions were made via smartphone. Almost 42% are purchases made using the computer, while tablet shopping is – unsurprisingly – only 8%.

When it comes to the average spendings tablet users tend to spend the lowest amount of their money – just above £47 of an average cart value – whereas desktop and laptop shoppers are spending almost £70. Smartphone e-shopping is clearly the stake winner averaging £98. Having stated that we have to mention the evident over-twenty-quids difference between Android and iOS users’ expenses: £87 for the former and £109 for the latter.

When comparing months, the last quarter of the year is characterized by the highest shopping activity. On the contrary – according to our study – users are not keen on buying online during the first half of the year. The most obvious reason for the discrepancy is the fact that English consumers take full advantage of the shopping festivals taking place during the final months of the year. Needles to mention that in November, when Black Friday and Cyber Monday are celebrated, the average order value rises up to £110, almost doubling the previous 10-months average.

Which day of the week is the most popular amongst the English? Both groups – computers and smartphones users – choose Friday.

For the sake of thoroughness, we’ve also divided 24 hours into equal parts to better understand which time of the day is the most popular for doing online shopping. At night (midnight to 6 AM) English users are finalizing only 5% of the total purchases. In the morning this percentage increases to 23%, rising to 34.5% during the day (noon to 6 PM), reaching its peak in the evening (6PM to midnight) – almost 38% of daily online orders in England are made during this hours.

When shopping online English users most often buy clothes, home and garden appliances and sports accessories. Food delivery is quite popular amongst desktop computer users, while goods for children are relatively often purchased using mobile devices.

England vs the United Kingdom

England, when comparing to the whole United Kingdom, is undoubtedly the foundation of country’s e-commerce condition. The average English user’s order value – £72 – is almost identical to the average for the whole country – £69. The one real difference is noticeable when comparing mobile users’ spendings, where the average cart of a mobile consumer from England is £6 higher than the average UK mobile consumer, and – digging even deeper – the average cart of iOS user from England is £18 higher.

Let’s look at the full rank as well. England took the second place when it comes to the amount of money being spent on online shopping, but the difference between the top spot Northern Ireland is only 20p. Scotland follows with a tree-quid difference (£69) and Wales closes the ranking with an average basket value of almost £62, which is £10 less than England’s.

1. Northern Ireland – £71.92
2. England – £71.72
3. Scotland – £69.04
4. Wales – £61.66

Iceland, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer are the most popular marketplaces in England, however, not many users know that shopping in those places can be made even better with cashback. All you have to do is activate it in Picodi before each purchase.

Methodology

The study refers to the online purchases being made by the UK consumers using desktop and mobile devices in 2017.

Sources

• https://www.statista.com/statistics/288487/forecast-of-global-b2c-e-commerce-growt/
• https://www.gurufocus.com/news/492058/uk-online-shopping-and-ecommerce-statistics-for-2017
• https://www.itpro.co.uk/hardware/30467/tablet-sales-decline-for-the-13th-quarter-in-a-row

Fair Use Statement

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