How The Northern Irish 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 Northern Ireland 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 Northern Ireland compare with Scotland, Wales, England and the UK as a whole.

Northern Ireland’s statistics

Northern Ireland’s internet users are pretty much equally divided when it comes to choosing between mobile devices and traditional desktop PCs or laptops – 46% of all the analyzed transactions were made via computer, but more than 42% are purchases made using the smartphone. Tablet shopping is – unsurprisingly – just over 12%.

When it comes to the average spendings tablet users tend to spend the lowest amount of their money – just a smidgen below £52 of an average cart value – whereas desktop and laptop shoppers are spending almost £68. Smartphone e-shopping is clearly the stake winner averaging £96. Having stated that we have to mention the evident almost-fifty-quids difference between Android and iOS users’ expenses: £119 for the former and £73 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 Northern Ireland’s 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 users? Desktop users prefer Sundays, however, mobile transactions reach the top on Fridays.

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) users from Northern Ireland are finalizing less than 6% of the total purchases. In the morning this percentage increases to 21%, rising to 26% during the day (noon to 6 PM), reaching its peak in the evening (6 PM to midnight) – over 47% of daily online orders in Northern Ireland are made during this hours.

When shopping online Northern Irish most often buy clothes, goods for children and sports accessories. Food delivery is quite popular amongst desktop computer users, while goods for children are especially popular amongst mobile users.

Northern Ireland vs the United Kingdom

Northern Ireland, when comparing to the whole United Kingdom, is closely corresponding with country’s e-commerce condition. The average Northern Ireland user’s order value – £72 – is almost identical to the average for the whole country – £69. The one real difference is noticeable when comparing Android users’ spendings, where the average cart of a mobile Android consumer from Northern Ireland is up to £27 higher than the average UK mobile Android consumer.

Let’s look at the full rank as well. Northern Ireland took the top spot when it comes to the amount of money being spent on online shopping, but the difference between the second place England 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

Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and ASDA Groceries are the most popular marketplaces in Northern Ireland, 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

Your readers are interested in the topic of regional e-commerce trends? Great! We are looking forward to see the results of our research shared for any non commercial purpose. In order to share the above results please ensure a link back to this very page and refer Picodi.com, so that your readers can enjoy the study in its entirety and our contributors earn the proper credit for their work.