The UK has an advanced ecommerce landscape, with 73% of adults buying goods or services online in 2013. The UK is also a leading market for both import and export cross-border ecommerce, with 71% of online merchants offering delivery outside of the UK and 48% of UK online shoppers making purchases with non-UK retailer. The British consumer is technologically savvy, and comfortable shopping via mobile.
• Total Population - 64 million • Age Breakdown - 41.1% of the population in the UK are between 25 and 54. • Religion - 75% of the total British population consider themselves to have a religion. - 71.8% of this group is Christian, followed by Muslim at 2.8%. • Urban Population - 80% • Internet Penetration - 84.1% - 52.7 million • Mobile Penetration - 130% • Tablet Penetration - 34.5% - It is predicted that over 50% of the British population will use a tablet by 2016. - 55% of the tablets owned in the UK are Apple, compared to Samsung at 14%. • Smartphone Penetration - 65.2% • Online Shoppers - 46.8 million - 72% of all adults bought goods or services online in 2013, up from 53% in 2008. • Ecommerce Sales - GBP 91 billion • Ecommerce Penetration - 73%
Cross-border Ecommerce Opportunities
• 71% of UK based online retailers offer delivery outside of the UK, making international purchasing capacity a relative norm. • 48% of UK online shoppers have made an online purchase with a retailer based outside the UK. • The UK is among the biggest cross-border B2C ecommerce exporters worldwide, supported by the popularity of British brands around the world and wide use of the English language. The most intense trade flow takes place between the UK and US. • The UK was the most popular destination for cross-border online shopping among European online shoppers purchasing abroad in 2013, followed by Germany and France. • Global cross-border ecommerce is set to grow to GBP 28 billion by 2020 with the UK expected to have a 60% share of that market.
Language as a Key Driver
• The de facto official language of the UK is English, which is spoken as the primary language by 95% of the UK population. • English today is the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. • The countries with the highest populations of native English speakers are, in descending order: the US (292 million), Canada (18.2 million), Australia (15.5 million), Nigeria (4 million), Ireland (3.8 million), South Africa (3.7 million), and New Zealand (3.6 million).