Online shopping 2017 Customers in the UK 77% of adults in the UK bought goods or services online in the last 12 months – unchanged from 2016, but up 24% on 2008. E-commerce market worth £74.5 billion Clothes or sporting goods were the most popular online purchase in the UK in 2017 -bought by 56% of adults. Household goods (inc. furniture and toys) were the next most popular, purchased by 50% of adults, while holiday accommodation was purchased by 44% of adults. 93% who had bought online in the last 12 months, bought  from online sellers in the UK – a 6% increase from 2008 31% had bought from sellers in other EU countries – a 19% increase from 2008… Read more »

Over half of customers start researching Christmas gift ideas before December. These customers want gift guides. For those that haven’t yet started, gift guides are the perfect reminder that Christmas is coming up soon, to get them thinking about everyone they need to buy for, and showcase your products as great gifts. Anyone who has ever had to shop for Christmas gifts will empathize with the stress of having to find a gift for someone who is difficult to buy for. This is why gift guides are really helpful for customers at Christmas, boosting sales through great user experience. Gift guides are so good for user experience in fact, that Marks & Spencer have updated their homepage to a gift… Read more »

According to Yes mail Interactive, 69.8% of people starting their Christmas shopping before the 1st December. With singles day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions coming at us from every angle, it’s impossible to miss that we are already into core Christmas shopping season. But even if you don’t want to lose all of your profits to massive sale day reductions, this is still prime holiday shopping time, and it’s not too late to start taking action to make sure that you catch as much custom as possible this holiday season. The last major shopping holiday was 11/11 and Chinese super retailer Alibaba reported US$25.3 billion in gross merchandise sales on this one day. 90% of which was processed on… Read more »

No one is exactly sure how singles day started, but the most popular e-commerce legend is that it emerged from the dorms of Nanjing University in 1993 when four single male students got together to discuss how to make single life more fun. One suggested that because of the ones in the date, November 11 would be a good day on which to organize activities for singles. What started as the tradition of a small group of friends gradually became a tradition for the whole university, and by the early 2000s had spread throughout the country. A kind of anti-valentines day, hard-working young singles could use the day as an excuse to get together and do fun stuff like visit karaoke… Read more »

Some of the biggest retailers of all time owe much of their growth to cross-selling. Cross-selling can help companies nurture and maximize relationships with current customers, increasing profits and efficiency. From the sweeties at the supermarket checkout, to the plant pots in Ikea displayed with a plant sold separately ready placed inside, cross-selling is every retailer’s favorite profit-boosting trick. McDonald’s have built an empire from cross-selling; never failing to ask if you would like fries or a drink with your burger. Online, Amazon has leveraged the power of cross-selling to help them become one of the largest retailers of all time. Both the “Frequently Bought Together” and “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” sections on Amazon product pages promote… Read more »