B2C E-commerce UK: €222 billion in 2020

By the end of 2020, RetailX predicts B2C e-commerce in the United Kingdom is worth €222.5 billion. This is an expected increase of almost 11% when comparing this to the market at the end of 2019. At that time, the UK B2C e-commerce market in the was valued just over €200 billion.

Despite growing, 10.96% is the lowest predicted growth rate since 2016. In 2016, the e-commerce industry increase by just 4.47%. With this new growth prediction, the UK B2C e-commerce market remains the largest in Europe. The research expects that 96% of British consumers to be online this year. 87% of these consumers expect to buy something online in 2020, the market is very mature and digitised.

Your UK Delivery Provider

The research by RetailX also shows which delivery providers online consumers in the United Kingdom prefer. On top of the list, we find Royal Mail. 52.7% of respondents indicate this as their favourite delivery service providers. Other - sometimes smaller - popular parcel delivery service providers are Hermes (16.1%), DPD Group (14.2%), Parcelforce (4.7%), DHL (4.1%), Yodel (3.1%), UPS (2.8%) and UK mail (2.2%).

Popular to buy... and to return

Not surprisingly, the research finds that returns amongst British consumers happen most often with fashion products. 30% of consumers have returned clothing, followed by 13% returning shoes. 7% of the consumers have returned consumer electronics.

Fashion, at the same time, is the most popular online shopping category. 60% of the respondents in the research indicate they bought a fashion item online. Shoppers in the United Kingdom prefer to do this on Amazon, Marks & Spencer, Asos, Denenhams, Argos, Topshop and Zalando. Other popular product categories are household items (49%), holiday accommodations (44%) and travel arrangements (43%).