Over the past pandemic year, a significant number of consumers in the United Kingdom (UK) have reported changes in their online shopping behavior. Specifically, in March 2020, about ** percent of UK shoppers said they had been shopping more online, compared to before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. By February 2021, however, this percentage had grown to approximately ** percent. By the same token, offline shopping has decreased over the analyzed period.

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 peaked at around 129.5 billion British pounds in 2021. In 2022, the figure decreased to ***** billion British pounds. However, they then went through another recovery and achieved around ***** billion British pounds in 2024. 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 ** billion euros in 2021.

What does the online shopper want? The answer for UK consumers was price comparisons, according to results of a consumer survey conducted each year from 2018 to 2020. In each of these years, those surveyed predominantly cited price comparison and greater variety as the two leading motivations to do their shopping online. Most popular items purchased online The latest reports published by the Office for National Statistics (UK) also suggested that, for both British men and women alike, clothing and sports goods were the number one items that shoppers purchased online in 2020. Ranking second that year, deliveries from restaurants, fast-food chains or catering services were ordered by approximately a ***** of consumers in Great Britain. UK: Europe’s leading e-commerce market UK’s online shoppers drive the sovereign country’s retail sector. Currently, the share of online sales as a proportion to all retail trade makes the United Kingdom the leading e-commerce market in Europe. Forecasts indicate that the total value of online sales in the UK will have reached approximately ********* British pounds in 2020.

According to the results of Coronavirus Consumer Tracker conducted by Internet Retailing, coronavirus (COVID-19) had the most impact on takeaway food ordering habits of consumers. In the week ending May 6, more than ********* of UK consumers who took part in this tracker said they stopped ordering food online completely. Just over ** percent of consumers said they reduced ordering takeaway food.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere in the world, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

In December 2024, shoppers in Scotland purchased the most health and beauty products online in the United Kingdom (UK). Approximately ** percent of shoppers from this region purchased wellness items online, up from ** percent in December 2023. Comparatively, in the last month of 2024, ** percent of consumers in Wales, London and in the North shopped for these products over the Internet.

In 2020, the e-commerce sales reached a share of **** percent of all retail sales in the Untied Kingdom (UK). For 2025, the forecasted retail e-commerce sales as a share of total retail sales in the UK might reach **** percent, up from the previous years.

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.

With the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and lockdown measures imposed in many countries in Europe, growth trends in online retail orders have displayed drastic ups and downs. As displayed in the statistic, in the United Kingdom (UK) weekly online retail transactions made in home and leisure categories saw a *** percent increase since the start of the year. In the week immediately following the lockdown announcement, weekly growth rate for home and leisure retail went up by *** percent compared to the same period in the previous year. This growth trend continued through April and the first two weeks of May, with sharp drops in the second half of May. Home and leisure retail referred to in this statistic included the following sub-sectors: Seasonal, Media & Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Home & Garden, Health & Beauty, Pet Care, Home Office, Business & Industrial.

This statistic illustrates the results of a survey on the leading product categories purchased online from abroad by consumers in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020. During the survey period, it was found that ** percent of respondents purchased clothing online from abroad. A share of **** percent of respondents stated that they made cross-border purchases of cosmetics, haircare and skincare products. For a more detailed look at online shopping and online shoppers in the United Kingdom please visit our Digital Market Outlook.

In March 2025, the share of total retail sales of textile products, clothes, and shoes made online in Great Britain amounted to ** percent. A peak was reached in February 2021, when online sales reached about ** percent of total retail sales of textile products, clothes, and shoes in Great Britain.

According to the results of Coronavirus Consumer Tracker conducted by Internet Retailing, the biggest impact on UK consumers' online clothes shopping activity took place in the week immediately after the national lockdown announcement on March 23, 2020. Most recently, a quarter of respondents said they reduced online shopping for clothing. Another ** percent stated they stopped completely.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere in the world, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The United Kingdom is the leading market in Europe when it comes to online shopping. In 2021, the revenue of e-commerce in the United Kingdom reached a total of 129 billion British pounds. This figure is almost 15 percent up from the 112.7 billion British pounds in 2020, and over triple the revenue of UK e-commerce in 2015.

Leading e-commerce sectors According to the most recent e-commerce activity reports issued by the Office for National Statistics, non-store retailing done online, followed by textile, clothing, and footwear sales were the two sectors with the highest shares of retail e-commerce sales. Internet sales in Great Britain accounted for 92.6 percent of non-store retail, and over 26 percent of textile, clothing and footwear sales.

Sales value trends

Following the spike in e-commerce growth in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, internet retail sales were up 10.8 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, which had seen a much higher increase, at 47 percent. By the month, internet retail sales dropped by 20 percent as of January 2022. This decrease is likely due to UK shoppers re-adopting in-store shopping.

In the United Kingdom (UK), the share of online health and beauty shoppers has remained steady since 2020. A survey conducted in December 2024 revealed that women purchased more wellness products via the internet than men. That month, around ** percent of women bought products from this category online versus ** percent of men.

According to the results of Coronavirus Consumer Tracker conducted by Internet Retailing, during the coronavirus crisis, more than a quarter of UK consumers stopped shopping for electronics online completely. Most recently, the consumer tracker results showed a slight development in the share of consumers who increased their online shopping activity for electronics, going from *** percent in ******** to ** percent in the week ending May 6.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere in the world, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The monthly trend in the value of retail internet food sales in Great Britain surged between March 2020 and March 2021, when the first COVID-19 restrictions were enforced. After that, the monthly growth showed negative values until October 2022. In March 2025, online food sales increased by 4,1 percent.

A survey measuring the differences between online purchasing among age groups found that the 65+ age group generally purchased the least amount. Overall, the older the age group, the less these age groups purchased items online. Those in the 25-34 age group had the highest online purchasing penetration in 2020 at 99 percent.

Internet access: UK and world

In 1998, internet access in UK private households was considered a rare and uncommon amenity. Today, the opposite is said to be true and nearly every household in the UK has access to the internet. In 1998, nine percent of UK households had internet access. Whereas in 2020, that number has ballooned to 96 percent of UK households. Internationally, on average 59 percent of the world has access to the internet. However, this number varies dramatically between the Global North and the Global South. In Northern Europe, internet penetration reached 95 percent in 2020.

Internet access in the UK by age group

Although 98 percent of UK households in 2020 have internet access, access varies considerably among those aged 75+. In 2017, more than half of UK persons aged 75 and above had access to the internet. This is dramatically lower than even the next age group of those aged 65 to 74, where 78 percent had internet access in 2017.

In late 2020, approximately 65 percent of consumers in the United Kingdom (UK) stated they would primarily shop for appliances and technology products online in future, as a result of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Just under half of UK consumers considered doing the same for apparel, as well as beauty and cosmetics products.

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 ** percent. By December 2020, that figure had increased *****percentage points. As of June 2025, around****percent of the UK population purchased food and drinks online. Online food delivery market in the UK With an estimated ** 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 *** billion dollars, followed by the United States with an estimated *** billion U.S. dollars. In terms of retailers, Tesco was the uncontested market leader, generating more than * 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 ** 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 ** 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.

In the United Kingdom, online apparel sales grew significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, e-commerce accounted for ** percent of all apparel sales in the European country, almost ** percentage points higher than the previous year. While a slight decline was expected in 2021 as the nation adapted to the new normal, forecasts indicate that the online segment has come to stay and will continue to grow in the coming years.

In 2020, ** percent of individuals who made online purchases in the last three months bought goods from national sellers in the United Kingdom (UK). In comparison, ** percent of individuals made cross-border purchases from EU sellers, while ** percent of individuals purchased online from non-EU sellers.