According to Damian Ryan, a partner at UK accountancy firm Moore Stephens, which conducted the survey, "marketers are seeking to build in-house strength and are set to spend more on digital marketing to remain competitive. Our research finds that this budget is coming from media spend and will have a resounding impact on the value of media-centric agencies.” The Moore Stephens survey, conducted with advertising and media consultancy WARC, covered 800 companies in North America, the Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

It found that brands in Britain and North America spent 23 percent of their budgets on digital marketing, up from 16 percent a year ago. And 63 percent of American technology budgets were spent in-house, compared with 44 percent last year. Tough European data protection rules that took effect in May, as well as concerns over the data practices of search giant Google and social network Facebook - the two biggest online advertising platforms - have led several players in the ad industry to merge or retrench. The emergence of platform companies that offer a one-stop shop for marketers is another trend to watch, Ryan said to Reuters, highlighting Adobe Systems’ acquisition in May of e-commerce company Magento for $1.7 billion.

Ryan concludes that “Fundamentally, brands don’t like to trust agencies with data. The clear trend shows that brands are seeking to take control over marketing technology. Against that, we can see that, at the upper end where brands are spending more, they are still working with agencies.”

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In 2017, 22 percent of the British population shopped online once a week. The percentage of online shopping has increased to 26 percent in the last year. Also, 68 percent of the Brits shop online at least once a month while 3 percent of the population says to shop online every day.

Research, conducted by Ipsos MORI and based on 3,000 British customers above the age of 16, showed that e-commerce in the United Kingdom gives no sign of slowing down. However, the news is not just that British consumers are shopping online more often, research shows that they are also spending more money online. At this moment, the average Brit spends about 250 euros on online shopping over a three month period. This amount has risen 17 euros since last year; in 2017 the Brits spent 233 euros in the same period last year.

Another thing that is becoming increasingly popular among the British consumers is delivery subscription schemes. In the second quarter of last year, April to June 2017, approximately one in five Brits was a member of a delivery subscription. This year, the amount of Brits using delivery subscriptions has increased to almost 30 percent. Young people, aged 18 to 24, are most likely to have a delivery subscription. This is shown by the fact that 40 percent of them are members of a delivery subscription.

“Consumers are looking for convenience, and delivery subscriptions are providing this”, according to a spokesperson for Royal Mail Parcels. “Retailers need to ensure they’re responding to consumer demand or they risk being left behind. With the emergence of try-before-you-buy schemes for consumers, returns will continue to rise and retailers must have a simple returns process in place to respond to this.”

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