Wednesday 5 June 2013

Royal Mail research reveals massive growth in UK e-commerce

The number of online-only e-retailing business has more than doubled in the past five years from 6,700 in 2008 to 14,400 in 2012, according to a nationwide study commissioned by Royal Mail. While the number of businesses contributing to the British economy fell an annual average of 0.4% for the years covered, the number of companies selling goods online saw a staggering 21.3% average annual growth. 


Speaking of the study, Managing Director of Royal Mail Parcels Nick Landon commented: "Online-only e-retailing has become an increasingly strong area for business start-ups and is making a strong contribution to the overall UK economy. With continued growth in online shopping, we can expect more significant contributions to the UK economy in current years."

Online sales are also way ahead of the retail sector as a whole, according to a recent CEBR study of ONS data: e-retailing grew by almost 50% while the total retail sector saw only 13.6% growth. Given that increased online sales means increased demand for postage and delivery Royal Mail are set to take advantage of this increase as part of their growth strategy. Courier services resellers such as Transglobal Express are are also set to benefit from this increase, given that their highly competitive rates for services such as UPS, DHL Express and TNT can rival Royal Mail in terms of price and service, as well as offering much lower costs than customers would incur by booking directly with the courier. 


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