Wednesday, January 6, 1999 Published at 12:35 GMT
UK losing out to US in online shopping
UK online shopping is expected to surge over the next five years
By Internet Correspondent Chris Nuttall
UK retailers lack the skills to entice Net users to shop online and are trailing their American competition in terms of service and value for money, according to a new report.
UK market to grow to £3bn by 2003
The management report warns that British business could miss out on a local market expected to be worth more than £3bn by 2003.
Fletcher predicts that computer equipment and software sales will make up £1.3bn of this market and 16% of the UK market as a whole. Travel should be worth £490m, or 7 per cent of total industry sales and books and music £355m or 6 per cent.
The report says that online brands take time to become established and a major investment is needed to acquire new customers. The online stores that offer them the best service will be the ones driving Net shopping to become more than two per cent of total consumer shopping in the UK.
Report's key findings
The main points from the report include:
"US retailers have already learnt these lessons and are using that expertise to expand into the UK, particularly in key sectors such as books and computing, where Britain's High Street retailers may already find it's too late."
Fletcher surveyed 49 UK online shopping sites, interviewed around 50 industry executives and developed a model of the size of the online market for the report.