A major new survey by PayPal, the online payment gateway, suggests that online sales are set to double over the next two years as shoppers turn their backs on the high street in favour of online shopping.
The report carried out by Experian reveals that nearly 9 million adults shop online in the UK at least once a week. As an emerging retail growth area, e-commerce is sometimes viewed as a sideswhow, an added extra with little bearing on real world sales. However, this misconception is due a correction as more consumers head for online stores instead of the high street.
Carl Scheible, managing director of PayPal UK said: "In our experience the retail winners from this recession will be those that work hard to meet expectations. If customers have come to expect fantastic service on the high street, retailers must make sure they aren't disappointed if they head online. Customers want good value, simplicity and security when they decide where to spend their money online."
According to the report, which was based on interviews with 1,000 adults, 24pc of UK adults now believe that online shopping will become the norm and that the high street will eventually die out. Over half of consumers polled believe that high-street retailers could significantly improve their websites and sales processes to "enhance the customer experience".
The quoted words 'enhance the customer experience' is an important concept because many online retailers are lagging behind the curve when it comes to usability and customer satifaction. Specialists like myself who have studied, designed and implemented online shops and e-commerce customer experience improvement programs will be able to offer advice and services to raise the standards of customer experience.
So please feel free to contact me if you need advice, my rates are reasonable and the results will pay for itself.