The Key To e-Commerce Success In Britain

Consumer spending in the UK is showing little sign of uplift just four weeks from Christmas, according to the Visa Weekly Christmas Spending Tracker. The findings come as the UK prepares for Mega Monday – Monday 3rd December – when Visa Europe is predicting that £320 million will be spent on Visa cards online with transactions topping 6.8 million.

Commenting on Visa’s recent findings, Dr Steve Perry, Commercial Director at Visa Europe, said: “Data from Visa’s Weekly Christmas Spending Tracker indicate that consumer spend in the UK is flat, meaning that retailers online and on the High Street are going to have to work hard to extract the same level of spend as last year. Hard-pressed consumers are evidently looking for ways to make their money go further this Christmas. This is why we expect a record number of shoppers to seek out bargains and offers online on Monday 3rd December, the UK’s Mega Monday.”

Ahead of the Christmas sales Acsel and Ubifrance held a country workshop to discuss the country’s e-commerce landscape and guide retailers on what they need to do to succeed in Europe’s largest online market – with a predicted 95.45 billion euros in sales.

James Roper, chief executive at IMRG and one of the speakers, explained that by 2020 over 80% of the UK’s retail market will be online or influenced by online channels. In the UK the traditional retail sector is seeing a lot of difficulties and the digital and physical worlds are getting ever closer, he added.

The second speaker, Teresa Marshall, Trade Development Adviser at Ubifrance, pointed out the demanding nature of British customers. Since e-commerce is well developed in the country, most customers expect impeccable service: free delivery, easy-to-use website, good presentation of the goods. Another speaker, Greg Zemor, founder of Neteven, suggests entering the market by practicing aggressive prices and very good country-targeted presentation. He also suggests entering the market via global vendors like Amazon and eBay, but stresses the need to target the country specifically and make sure all product specifications are carefully translated.

All speakers also pointed out to another crucial aspect: payments. In order to successfully penetrate the UK market retailers need to pay attention to what kind of payment methods consumers will want to use and pay attention to local payment solutions.

Click here to read the full story (in French).