By 2025, UK online shopping home delivery alone will increase to £20 billion

New research from e-commerce delivery technology leader Metapack, in partnership with research consultancy Retail Economics, shows that UK retailers are bracing for an additional £19.6 billion in online home deliveries by 2025 as a result of the pandemic , with online sales expected to account for 49.7% of total non-food sales by 2025.

Metapack’s new eCommerce Delivery Benchmark Report shows that 27.3% of UK consumers now expect to permanently move more shopping online, a new behavior that has emerged since the pandemic .

A new wave of ‘digital shifters’ – the group of consumers who permanently switch to online shopping – is expected to contribute an extra £22.4bn in online sales compared to a scenario where the pandemic had no impact on shopping behaviour. This acceleration in online shopping is expected to generate an extra £19.6bn in sales through home deliveries alone by 2025 compared to a scenario where the pandemic had no impact.

However, the lasting impact of COVID-19 will have different effects on different product categories. The research predicts that apparel, home goods, and health and beauty will experience greater permanent online shifts .

One consequence of the shift online is that 35.8% of UK consumers expect to visit physical stores less frequently in the future, more than consumers in the US (28.7%), Germany (20.8%) and France (17.2%) who expect to visit less frequently.

At the same time, retail disruption is being felt by consumers working from home, which is driving growth in online spending but also weighing on foot traffic in stores.

A quarter ( 24.8%) of UK consumers have been working from home more since the pandemic , with half (50.6%) expecting to shop online in the long term, while around a quarter (27.1%) work in a place that has not been affected by the pandemic .

With more consumers working from home, it improves first-time delivery success rates and opens up more possible delivery slots. By 2025, UK homeworkers expect the proportion of their online orders delivered to their door to rise by 11.5%, compared to an average of 7.5% for those facing no job changes.

In addition to this, the report also drilled down into the main consumer types and found that the new wave of online shoppers are more demanding about delivery speed when considering their most important factors. In the markets analyzed, 37.5% of "digital shifters" value speed more than convenience, cost and the carbon footprint of delivery.

U.K.

Permanent online shopping

Consumption habits