European online retail hits €100bn and set to rise
The UK will lead online sales by 2011
Some 100 million European online shoppers will spend an average of €1,000 each in 2006 driving online retail past the €100bn mark according to analyst Forrester Research.
In its Ecommerce 2006-2011 forecast the analyst predicts online retail sales in Europe will more than double in the next five years to €263bn as the number of
online shoppers grows to 174 million.
Fuelled by improved supply and aided by comparison shopping sites more confident consumers will increase their average annual retail spend to €1,500.
Jaap Favier, consumer markets research director at Forrester said leisure travel represents the highest online spending.
‘Today, one in three of the euros, pounds, or kronor that consumers spend online go to leisure trip bookings. Online travel spending will grow by 133 per cent to almost €77bn in 2011 - making it the biggest grower in absolute terms - but its share of total retail will decline to 29 per cent.’
The number of Europeans shopping online has increased by 37% in the past two years. At the end of 2003, 48 per cent of Europeans went online at least once per month and 19 per cent had shopped online; two years later the figures rose to 54 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.
Forrester reports the average online shopper has increased quarterly Net spending by 10 per cent from €244 in Q4 2003 to €268 in Q4 2005. Combined with the increase in the number of online shoppers, total European eCommerce doubled in two years.
Forrester predicts the UK will lead European online sales in 2011. The average UK online shopper will spend €1,744 online in 2006 and €2,410 in 2011, driving UK eCommerce from €43bn in 2006 to €76bn in 2011.
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