Offline retailers to miss out on record £13bn online sales this Christmas
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Small and medium sized retailers could miss out on billions of pounds of sales Christmas because they lack an online presence, according to Sage Pay research.
Sage Pay's research indicates online spending over the festive period will hit a record £13bn for the first time - equivalent to an 18% boost on last year's spending of £11bn - so the need to have an online presence is greater than ever.
With record festive spending expected this year, and the online retail sector as a whole predicted to grow by 17% over the course of 2014, the growth opportunity for small businesses is huge. However, only 10% of UK SMEs are currently online. This has left most small businesses unable to take advantage of consumers' loosening wallets not just at Christmas, but all year round, opening a gaping hole in the British economy.
"With record online spending predicted for Christmas 2014, it's never been more important for small businesses to be online," said Simon Black, CEO of Sage Pay. "Most larger retailers are already preparing themselves for Christmas, and if independent merchants want to capitalise on consumers' confidence, they need to follow suit and begin preparing too."
Get your business online in 2014
Whether you're operating as a bricks and mortar shop, a mobile mechanic, selling over the Internet or a combination of all three, the fact is that customers these days expect to be able to find your business online.
It's not just setting up a website that's important - you need to ensure your business is ready to move with the times and respond to customers needs.
Did you know, mobile visits to retail sites have now overtaken desktop visits for the first time ever? The latest IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Report has revealed that while 52% of visits came from mobile from May to July 2014, 36% of UK online sales were completed on a smartphone or tablet device – a figure that rises to 40% for clothing and apparel merchants.
Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG, said: "Considering that as recently as 2010 mobile visits to e-retail sites accounted for less than 3% of traffic, this latest milestone represents staggering growth of 2,000% over the past four years. These results clearly demonstrate that retailers' investment in mobile optimisation is encouraging consumers to adopt mobile devices as a shopping platform."
The report also revealed that the total estimated online spend during the three month period was £24.2 billion, with £8.7 billion spent via smartphones and tablet devices.
Alex Smith-Bingham, vice president and digital devices leader at Capgemini, said: "As retailers further develop their m-commerce platforms and as the technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated, we'll see the role of the desktop in our day-to-day shopping cycle diminish. It will be very interesting to see just how wide the gap between mobile and traditional e-retail will become in 12 months' time."
Leadspring online marketing
In response to the growing demand, ActSmart have partnered with online marketing specialists, Leadspring.
Leadspring have combined the best digital marketing techniques into 3 simple, affordable and effective packages designed to help more people find your business online, and convert more searches into sales enquiries. This is all backed up by complete support and totally transparent reporting with preferential pricing exclusively available to ActSmart subscribers.
So, why not let Leadspring do all the hard work so you can concentrate on what's important - running your business.
To find out more visit www.actsmart.biz/leadspring or call us on 0845 618 7256.
