In 2023, approximately 56 percent of e-commerce retail sales in the United Kingdom were conducted through mobile devices. Projections for 2027 anticipate a further rise, with mobile commerce (m-commerce) expected to account for about 57.6 percent of the total online shopping market in the UK.

This statistic shows the share of individuals who purchased food or groceries online in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2009 to 2019. In 2019, 30 percent of individuals purchased groceries online in the UK.

The food and drink market in the United Kingdom saw its e-commerce user penetration rate significantly increase after December 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic led more consumers to purchase online. That month, the share of the UK population buying food and drinks online was approximately 13 percent. By December 2020, that figure had increased nine percentage points. As of March 2024, around a fifth of the UK population purchased food and drinks online. Online food delivery market in the UK With an estimated 48 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, the United Kingdom ranked third among the leading online food delivery markets worldwide in 2024. China held the top spot, with a market size of nearly 450 billion dollars, followed by the United States with an estimated 350 billion U.S. dollars. In terms of retailers, Tesco was the uncontested market leader, generating more than four billion U.S. dollars in e-commerce net sales in the UK in 2023. Fresh commerce Order fulfillment for fresh food and beverages may be the most challenging aspect of online food delivery for both retailers and consumers alike. It is of utmost importance for fresh fruits and vegetables to arrive at customers' doorstep without being damaged or without going bad on the way. In 2022, approximately 52 percent of UK consumers reported purchasing fresh food and beverages online, making the United Kingdom the only European market with such a high user adoption of fresh e-commerce. Additionally, around 36 percent of UK shoppers reported ordering fresh food online at least once a week, indicating that this practice is not only widely adopted in the country, but it is also done on a very frequent basis.

The online purchasing penetration in Great Britain from 2008 to 2020 has demonstrated an exponential increase. In 2008, just over half of British consumers stated having made a purchase through online methods. Whereas in 2020, 87 percent of British consumers stated utilizing online channels to make purchases. This demonstrates that e-commerce in the UK shows no signs of slowing down in the future.

B2C vs. B2B e-commerce

Generally speaking, e-commerce sales to private customers through a website trumps sales to private businesses or public authorities. In 2018, sales to private customers through a website accounted for almost 200 billion pounds in revenue and sales to businesses or public authorities accounted for 165.3 billion pounds in revenue. From 2014 to 2018, with the exception of 2015, year after year e-commerce sales to private customers has increased. The most popular goods purchased online in Great Britain in 2019 were clothing or sports goods; 60 percent of consumers surveyed reported having purchased clothes or sporting goods online. Another popular category for online shopping among British consumers was household goods, with 49 percent of those surveyed stating they had purchased these online.

Most popular online activity

Although shopping is clearly a popular online activity, the leading online activity among UK citizens in 2019 was online banking. 73 percent of those surveyed reported having done so in 2019. Browsing for leisure activities such as cinema times and live music was also a popular online activity of UK citizens.

According to a recent forecast on retail sales growth in the United Kingdom (UK) in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, in 2021 online sales is forecast to constitute 27.1 of all retail sales. For food retail, in 2021 an average of 1.6 percent decline is projected both in online and offline retail, whereas non-food sales in physical stores are predicted to grow by 15.1 percent.

This chart shows where consumers shop online for clothes in the United Kingdom (UK) as of January 2019. According to a survey carried out by ProdegeMR, with a 36 percent share Amazon made up the majority of the respondents' choice when it came to shopping for apparel products online. While British retailers Marks and Spencer, Asos, and Debenhams were also reflected as the consumers' choice of online platforms for shopping for clothes, one third of the respondents stated they used other platforms for online apparel shopping.

Since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, growth rates of online-only retailers in the United Kingdom (UK) varied between 8.3 percent in April 2020 to 19.6 percent in both September and October 2020. Most recently, during the Christmas holiday period, online-only retailers increased their sales by 9.1 percent.

In the first half of 2020, there were 62,868 consumer frauds reported in the United Kingdom (UK), of which around 41 thousand were related to online shopping and auction fraud. According to research released in October 2021, online shopping and auction frauds increased by 37 percent between the first half of 2019 and first half of 2020.

The technology and electronics market in the United Kingdom saw its e-commerce user penetration rate increase significantly between December 2019 and December 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic led to a surge in online purchases. The share of the UK population buying electronics online increased from 24 percent to approximately 37 percent during this period. As of June 2024, around 32 percent of the UK population purchased technology and electronics online.

UK consumers showed a preference for shopping on their high streets in 2019. A survey conducted with 24,072 revealed that more than half of consumers in the UK still favored their high streets over online shopping. As opposed to 64 percent of people doing this, 34 percent of consumers said they opted for online shopping.

Online retail in the United Kingdom has been gaining ground in the past decade. With the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, the value of online retail sales in the United Kingdom is estimated to reach just below 120 billion British pounds in 2021. In 2022, the figure decreased to 106 billion British pounds.

What ranks high in UK e-commerce?
In the United Kingdom, clothing and household goods were the most popular retail items consumers purchased through the internet in 2020. Data published by the Office for National Statistics (UK) showed that other leisure activities and services such as booking holiday accommodations, travel arrangements and event tickets were other areas consumers depended on the internet to buy.

German e-commerce market

The UK might have the highest share of online sales in retail trade, but other European countries such as Germany and France have had impressive track records over the years as well. According to the forecasts provided by German E-commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bevh), the market volume of Germany’s e-commerce sector was projected to see over 90 billion euros in 2021.

In 2019, UK consumers' choice of device when shopping online were laptops. According to the results of a survey conducted in April 2019, half of respondents used laptops when buying products online. Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, on the other hand, were favored by 43 and 24 percent of shoppers respectively.

This survey presents the share of online-only retailers that consumers choose for fashion items in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019. According to the results of the survey, Amazon was the favourite online pure-player with almost 29 percent of respondents. One of the most well-known online fashion retailers to have come out of the UK, Asos came in second place after Amazon, popular with nearly 13 percent of consumers.

Data collected in 2019 revealed that the most important drivers for online shopping among the customers in the United Kingdom (UK) were free delivery, free return and, transparent and complete delivery costs. 44 percent of the consumers stated that free delivery was an important driver for them to shop online. This was followed by a quarter of respondents who selected free returns, and one-fifth who found transparent and complete delivery costs to be important.

This statistic displays the findings of a survey on the level of concern over online shopping fraud in the United Kingdom (UK) as of 2019. During the survey period, it was found that 18 percent of respondents were very concerned over possible online shopping fraud.

This statistic displays the findings of a survey on the frequency of experiences of online shopping fraud in the United Kingdom (UK) as of October 2019. During the survey period, it was found that 14 percent of respondents experienced this type of fraud at least once.

In the second quarter of 2023, mobile phones were the preferred device among online shoppers in the United Kingdom (UK), with 48 percent of shoppers reporting a preference for mobile commerce. Computers followed behind with 40 percent reporting that they prefer their online shopping through laptops and desktops. Only 13 percent of respondents opted for tablets as their go-to device for online shopping.

According to survey findings, UK shoppers' purchases of health and beauty products online and in-store changed gradually between July 2019 and December 2024. The share of shoppers purchasing such products via in-store channels generally declined during the observed period, going from 63 percent to 54 percent in December 2024.

In the United Kingdom (UK), shopping online while under the influence of alcohol was not an experience unheard of, and of all generational groups, Millennials were the one to practice it the most. According to the results of a 2019 survey carried out by Attest, more than 40 percent of Millennial consumers said they did shop online while drunk or intoxicated. Gen Xers were less inclined to do so, but still more than a quarter of respondents in this age group also participated in the act.

In 2019/2020, about 54 percent of respondents 65 years old or older stated that they never shop online for food items. Among the 18 to 24 year-old respondents 41 percent stated to never shop online for food items. Online shopping for food was most common among respondents between 35 and 44 years of age. Here 71 percent shopped online while 29 percent never shopped online for food items.