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14 December 2007
Non-food products fuel supermarket growth online
The big supermarkets are taking a large share of online retail sales and market share in the run-up to Christmas.
According to figures from Hitwise, the top 45 supermarket websites represented 6.6% of all UK internet visits to shopping and classified websites in the week ending 8 December. This figure was up from 4.4% for the same period in 2005, and is likely to increase as Christmas approaches.
It is interesting that growth is primarily driven by searches for non-food items, such as entertainment and electrical products, which are increasingly available from supermarkets.
Microsites dedicated to particular products and services are also working to ensure continued supermarket sales growth; online and offline. A notable example being Asda Electrical.
Another market in which the supermarkets hold sway is wine. Supermarkets now account for one third of the UK online wine market. Three of the top ten wine retail websites for the week ending 8 December were owned by supermarkets, including Tesco Wine Warehouse.
Overall the supermarkets are winning with e-commerce. Robin Goad, Director of research at Hitwise comments:
“Although their online market share doesn’t yet match their dominance on the high street, there is no doubt that supermarkets are gaining ground on their online rivals.”
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