March/April 2003

UK consumers have been buying more goods online since the start of Gulf hostilities because lingering fear of terrorism has discouraged them from high-street shopping. At any rate, that is the analysis of Hitwise, an online intelligence-gathering service.

It says that a recent blip in use of online retail sites has been reversed. In the week ending 29 March, for instance, Web retail traffic increased 3.6 per cent. Overall, online retailing was up 20 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with last, it says, and accounted for just under 7 per cent of all Web traffic.

The strongest-performing sectors in the first quarter included auctions (up 40 per cent), flowers and gifts (up 30 per cent), toys and hobbies (9 per cent) and apparel and accessories (8 per cent), according to Hitwise.

The company says online grocery sites remained the "stickiest" UK retail sites. Users spent an average of 22 minutes at Tesco's online store Superstore and 21 minutes at Sainsbury's To You. However, more users book-marked Iceland Online Store and Ocado (2.37 and 1.62 per cent respectively), suggesting a stronger propensity for their customers to return.