Books still top the charts as the world’s most-purchased product in internet shopping

What is the most popular internet product?

Books still top the charts as the world’s most-purchased product in internet shopping, with 41% of all retail, but the purchase of clothing, shoes and accessories online has grown to 34%, accounting for over a third of all internet retail.

The effects on the high street have been well-documented. In the early days of the internet, many commentators claimed that the web would completely wipe out high street retail. Whilst this clearly has not yet happened, online retail has crept up on high street stores quickly, forcing them online. In 2000, online retail sales accounted for less than 1 per cent of all retail in the UK. By 2006, online retail had grown at an astonishing rate, taking up 3.6 per cent of all UK retail.

Now, Verdict Research predicts that online retail will take a further 10.7 per cent of total UK retail by 2015.

At the same time, retail in total, which includes both physical and online purchases, of non-foods has grown by almost 5 per cent in the last decade. So, consumers are buying more products, but also, developing new ways to ensure they get the best deal.

Clearly, UK consumers’ enthusiasm for online shopping is growing at a rapid rate, but physical shops still hold sway when it comes to the majority of shopping. Having said this, virtually all shops that began as purely physical entities now have an online presence as well; John Lewis, Argos, Tesco, and Currys (whose online presence is now manifested as Dixons) are just a handful of examples.

There is also a growing trend whereby high street and online stores are used simultaneously by shoppers. Many consumers now browse the shops in person over the weekend, to get a closer look at products or look for inspiration for gifts, and then use the internet connection at their workplace to compare prices of those products online and then order them. With this boom in retail, and the rapid growth of online shopping, consumers have also developed a taste for discounts. Not content with using the web for fast price comparisons and consumer reviews of products, they are also increasingly taking advantage of internet-only discount codes and vouchers to save money. Competitive Intelligence service Hitwise revealed in August 2009 that internet searches in the UK for discount codes and online vouchers increased by 47.5 per cent in the 12 months preceding that date. Hitwise spokespeople suggested that the recession, coupled with the Christmas shopping rush of 2008, sparked UK consumers’ interest in online vouchers, and that interest has grown since. Even within the past year, consumers’ use of online vouchers and discount codes has become even more sophisticated. Hitwise researchers noted that whilst the number of simple internet searches for ‘vouchers’ and ‘discounts’ remained the same throughout the period, there was also a sharp rise in the number of searches for ‘vouchers’ and a specific product, such as ‘sportswear vouchers’ or ‘jewellery discounts’.