|
More shoppers are using their mobile phones to check food and drink prices before they buy and there are huge opportunities for grocery retailers to expand their internet businesses, according latest research released by the British Retail Consortium. .
The BRC-Google Online Retail Monitor found that total retail search volumes grew 9% in the second quarter of 2012 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The increase was driven by a rise in mobile/tablet search volumes which grew by 113% year-on-year.
It said that there are huge opportunities for food retailers to expand their internet businesses and this will be a big area of competition over the coming months. Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said: “For the first time, we can see searches from tablets are responsible for 40% of all retail searches from mobile devices, a very substantial share.
“This reflects the growth in shoppers using tablets at home instead of a laptop or PC. Mobile searches overall are booming and the biggest growth area within that is for food and drink, showing smart consumers are increasingly using new devices to price check before buying their groceries.”
He said that around a fifth of all online spending is on food and drink but only 4% of total grocery spending happens online. “With non-food goods dominating online spending, there are huge opportunities for food retailers to expand their internet businesses and this will be a big area of competition in the coming months and years,” he predicted.
NamNews - Monday 16th July 2012
|
