Online shopping growing especially for discounters

The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index reveal that online spending is still at a record high, despite reports of falling consumer confidence and the tightening of debt markets. It seems that shoppers are buying groceries online because it helps in managing their shopping budget by reducing wasteful purchasing and removing the temptation of excessive impulse buying which can occur in the in store environment.

UK shoppers, especially, do not appear to be curbing their spending online as they are now spending a third more per online visit compared to five years ago. In addition, over €1 billion was spent online in the week of the Easter holidays.

However, the big gainers were discounters. Nielsen's Mike Watkins said: “We are seeing more consumers shopping online for their groceries and more people using online sites to search for offers and compare prices before shopping.

Visits to discounters Aldi, Lidl and Netto's websites are up by 30%-40% on last year, according to figures from Nielsen Online:

UK visits to grocery retail websites
March-May 2008