As high streets and shops start to reopen across the UK, business leaders will need to adapt their approaches if they are to encourage a sustained footfall. LambdaTest, the browser testing platform, has published the first in a series of data-driven reports that take a deep dive look into consumer expectations of in-store and e-commerce experience.
In a wide-ranging survey of UK consumers, LambdaTest reports that online spending surged in the 12 months since the start of the first COVID-19 lockdown, but any suggestion that the pandemic has transformed the way consumers will shop forever is based on hope rather than fact.
There’s been a 233% surge in the number of people using the Internet to do most of their shopping over the12 months (up 33% to 77%). In the same period, the average monthly online spend has surged 198%. This time last year, the Brits were spending £384 shopping online (per month, excluding household bills and mortgage/rent payments). This amount doubled to £761 per month over the last year.
Asad Khan, LambdaTest co-founder and CEO, said: “Retailers with an online presence have been riding an incredible wave over the last year. They’ve overcome some enormous challenges to make their online presences as great as possible in extraordinary, tough circumstances.”
While 70% of people whose monthly online spending has increased in the last year put it down to COVID-19, 68% say they’ll spend less online after the pandemic passes.