Conquering the UK market: data, figures, facts and statistics

Published on: October 24, 2020 / Update from: October 25, 2020 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

Decision-making aids in data, figures, facts and statistics as a PDF for free download, see below.

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The share of online shoppers in the total population of the European Union was 50 percent in 2018. In a European comparison, the proportion of online shoppers is highest in the United Kingdom at 77 percent. The average spending per capita when shopping online is also highest in Europe in the United Kingdom. Per capita spending there amounted to 921 euros in 2019. In second place are Germans, who spend an average of 784 euros per year on online purchases.

It is also interesting that many companies integrate an English version in addition to their own national language when setting up their e-commerce. Mostly because the technology allows it and usually not based on data and numbers. Access to the UK and US markets is seen as a “positive” side effect. In most cases there is no strategic basis here.

And if the UK or US market is an integral part of the global company strategy, there is usually a lack of comprehensive information that highlights the differences in the respective national markets.

Xpert.Digital as an information and content hub offers extensive data, figures, facts and statistics that can be ideally used for a revision, realignment or restart.

Matching and very good as a supplement:

• Conquering the US market: data, figures, facts and statistics
• Conquering the China market: data, figures, facts and statistics

E-commerce in the United Kingdom – E-commerce in the United Kingdom

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E-commerce in the United Kingdom – PDF Download

The United Kingdom (UK) has the most developed e-commerce market in Europe. According to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, the country's e-commerce revenue reached £688.4 billion in 2018, a sharp increase on the previous year. Wholesale and manufacturing were the two largest industries that generated the highest e-commerce sales in the same year.

The retail sector, in which the UK is the leader in Europe, was responsible for around eight percent of e-commerce sales across all sectors. In the retail sector alone, online sales accounted for 19.4 percent of all retail sales in 2019 and are predicted to reach higher levels in the next few years due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, internet retail sales grew just 10.1 percent, the lowest rate recorded in the past decade. Online retail has had particular weight in textiles and clothing stores, with the latest government figures showing that more than a quarter of retail sales come from the internet.

In many markets in Europe, mobile commerce and mobile buyers are a priority within e-commerce. In the UK, the proportion of smartphone users making purchases via mobile devices, particularly smartphones, has also increased over the years. In parallel, the number of consumers using mobile payment methods in their online transactions increased, with an expected growth of more than two million more users in 2019.

The online shopping landscape in the UK is expanding as more consumers choose to shop online. In fact, in 2020, 87 percent of UK households made online purchases in the previous 12 months, representing the highest online shopping penetration rate in the UK in the last 11 years. Clothing and sporting goods were particularly popular online purchases.

More detailed analysis of consumers' online shopping behavior shows that what drives shoppers to online shopping channels is a mix of different motivations. A survey conducted in 2018 and 2019 found that price and choice were the two biggest factors. Another study into the payment behavior of online shoppers found that while conventional methods such as credit or debit cards still had a higher proportion, shoppers also used online payment systems such as PayPal or even digital wallets such as Google, Apple and Amazon.

Social commerce in the United Kingdom

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Social commerce in the United Kingdom – PDF Download

Social commerce describes the use of social media platforms to promote, sell and purchase products and services. For example, users can browse products on Facebook and make purchases on the platform itself without having to visit a third-party website. As the use of digital technology for businesses becomes more popular, this convergence of social media and e-commerce provides companies with a means to simplify the purchasing process and leverage social media advertising for their brands.

While social media connects consumers, it also plays a role in connecting marketers with current and potential buyers. The marketing strategies used in social commerce engage online shoppers through graphics, recommendations, and customizable purchasing options.

Retailers and consumers have already turned their attention to automated chatbot and messaging app commerce as an extension of social commerce. However, unlike regular e-commerce, social commerce still needs time to reach the mainstream.

Digital marketing in the United Kingdom

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Digital marketing in the United Kingdom – PDF Download

Digital advertising in the United Kingdom

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Digital advertising in the United Kingdom – PDF Download

Advertising in the United Kingdom

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Advertising in the United Kingdom – PDF Download

With annual spending of $29 billion in 2019, the United Kingdom (UK) is Europe's best-performing market when it comes to advertising spending and the fourth largest globally after the United States, China and Japan. Apart from a decline in 2017, the UK has managed to consistently increase advertising spend year-on-year since 2009. This is also forecast for 2020. Overall, the advertising industry drives the economy by stimulating competition, creating jobs, and funding media platforms such as websites and search engines. However, digitalization has led to significant changes in advertising formats in recent years. Search engines, online display, online radio and video on demand were advertising platforms that saw growth in 2018. Conversely, traditional advertising in print forms such as magazines, newspapers and mail recorded a decline.

Digital Advertising
Advertisers are shifting their focus to today's most popular platforms - namely the online platforms. Digital advertising industry spending has increased since 2007 and shows no signs of slowing down. In 2019 they amounted to 14 million British pounds, for 2020 they were forecast to reach 15.6 million British pounds. In 2018, Google was the industry leader in digital advertising with a 40 percent market share, while Facebook, in second place, achieved 22.7 percent of the market share that year. However, being marketed to online is clearly not for everyone, as the proportion of UK adults using ad blockers has increased every year since 2015.

Social Media Advertising
Thanks to its wide reach and rapidly growing user base – most of whom are tech-savvy millennials aged 25-34 – social media and influencer marketing is growing rapidly. In 2018, almost $2.1 billion was generated in Great Britain alone, the highest turnover of any European country. With social media penetration expected to increase globally year-on-year through 2025, the outlook for the industry is good. In a 2019 survey, 39 percent of British retailers expected Facebook to bring the most benefit to their business over the next five years, while 18 percent said the same for YouTube and Instagram.

Impact of Coronavirus on the Industry
Advertising spending in the UK has been severely affected during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. As the closure of cinemas across the country has lasted nearly four months, advertising spending on the big screen is likely to be hit the hardest. Search and online display advertising, on the other hand, were predicted to be the least affected by the lockdown. However, 2021 is shaping up to be positive and the industry is expected to not only recover but also see overall spending growth of 13.6 percent.

Programmatic advertising in the United Kingdom

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Programmatic advertising in the United Kingdom – PDF Download

In a decade, digital advertising spending in the UK has more than quadrupled, reaching £14 million in 2019. The largest portion of this is programmatic, accounting for nearly 89 percent of the country's total display ad spending - higher than the U.S. and global average. Additionally, the UK alone accounted for 31 percent of total programmatic ad spend in Europe in 2019, the largest share of any country. As a market leader in the programming industry, the UK will continue to grow in this area, reaching £6 billion in annual spending by 2021. The majority of this spending will be on video.

Programmatic Advertising Agencies – Transparency is Key
While automating ad buying and selling comes with a host of benefits – not the least of which is cost effectiveness – the rapid take-up of programmatic advertising means an increased burden on brands as they deal with the various aspects of advertising have to fight. With needs ranging from database management to algorithm creation, many companies are not fully equipped to handle such needs and therefore resort to outsourcing certain areas of programmatic advertising, primarily in the areas of data management and campaign strategy. This is often done in collaboration with specialized partner agencies such as AppNexus and OpenX, which, according to a survey conducted at the end of 2019, are the top two partners used by companies worldwide to manage their advertising technology. What distinguishes a partner agency? According to global CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers), transparency is the main factor when choosing a partner.

A shift to private marketplaces?
While total spend on programmatic advertising in the UK is expected to rise through 2021, the majority of this will come from direct deals, i.e. deals between a seller and a buyer, rather than real time bidding (RTB) via an ad exchange . A shift towards private marketplaces is also expected in real-time ad buying, and it is predicted to account for more than half of all RTB spending by 2021. Not surprisingly, this shift follows a surge in global digital ad fraud, which is expected to cost the industry $44 billion in 2022 alone.

Ad placement and attitudes toward targeted advertising
Most consumers agree that placement influences whether an ad is perceived as trustworthy or not, with negative perceptions particularly heightened when an ad is placed next to controversial content. Overall, feelings about targeted advertising still appear to be mixed, with 68 percent of British adults admitting they are still uncomfortable with the idea.

Search engines in the UK – Search engines in the UK

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Search engines in the United Kingdom – PDF Download

When you hear the term search engine, you immediately think of giants like Google, Bing and Yahoo! as well as to smaller players like DuckDuckGo and Yandex. Despite the increasing popularity of alternative search tools in recent years - largely due to privacy concerns - Google has remained the top player, accounting for around 90 percent of the global industry share since 2010.

Skepticism towards search engines
Although search engines are now part of everyday life, consumers remain critical and trust in search results fluctuates. Approximately 60 percent of respondents surveyed between 2012 and 2019 believed that search engines present a mix of biased and unbiased information. In contrast, only about 20 percent believed in the validity of all results displayed. However, this skepticism about search engines is not surprising, especially given paid political advertising. Google, for example, was particularly complicit during the 2019 European elections. In the UK alone that year, the search giant received €48,000 for running political ads.

Advertising
Machine learning and programmatic advertising have also enabled search engines to display appropriate ads to audiences in real-time. Additionally, top search engines like Google have also built some of the largest consumer databases, containing information such as purchase history and location. This, combined with the technology mentioned above, creates a tool that far outperforms other advertising methods. In fact, search advertising alone largely brings in the largest share of digital advertising revenue in the UK, surpassing social media, banners, videos and classifieds.

UK market share
Second only to Google in the UK is Microsoft's Bing with a 10 percent market share, followed by Yahoo! and DuckDuckGo. Despite two sharp declines in market share since 2015 - cases that coincided with the European Union's antitrust fines against the company - Google's performance shows no signs of slowing. The Silicon Valley giant has also controlled over 90 percent of the mobile search industry since 2014. In January 2020, this share was an astonishing 97.9 percent, an almost complete market dominance.

Consumer Search Habits
The influence of search engines is so strong that 70 percent of UK consumers rely on them to make purchasing decisions. In contrast, only 42 percent rely on customer reviews. The most searched search term on Google from January to April 2020 was “Airpods”.

Google in the United Kingdom – Google in the United Kingdom

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Google in the United Kingdom – PDF Download

This PDF presents insights and statistics about Google in the United Kingdom (UK), providing information about the Internet company's online services. It contains information about Google's global and UK advertising revenue and its search engine market share. It also includes chapters on Google's Android mobile operating system and Google's own video-sharing platform YouTube.

Out-of-home advertising in the United Kingdom

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Out-of-home advertising in the United Kingdom – PDF Download

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, in simple terms, is advertising that reaches people while they are in public places. In the UK, OOH advertising can be seen on roadside billboards, digital screens in shopping centers and bus shelters, and on the sides of buses. These are just some examples; Advertisers are always looking for new ways to reach consumers with one of the oldest forms of advertising in existence.

Outdoor advertising can be incredibly effective. One reason for this is that it is, in some ways, one of the purest forms of advertising. Online advertising, on the other hand, always competes with the content and is often even disguised as the content itself, and so the advertising can easily be lost or simply ignored by consumers as they go about their busy online lives. Outdoor advertising, on the other hand, will always attract attention.

Another reason why OOH advertising works so well is its potential to consistently reach a large number of people in a specific area. Most people will see outdoor advertising on a daily basis, with ad impressions and coverage even greater in major cities such as London and Birmingham.

These are just a few of the reasons why outdoor advertising spending has increased and is predicted to increase even further in the coming years. Outdoor advertising revenue in the UK has also increased, a trend seen across Europe and in the advertising world more generally. Advertisers and outdoor media companies are investing particularly in the digital out-of-home sector, with more and more digital screens appearing in public spaces.