Ecommerce has been with us for some years now, but we have personally witnessed a significant growth in online purchasing over the last two to four years, with no real indication that this trend will change in the immediate future. Therefore the need for high search engine rankings is extremely important to online shopping websites in an increasingly competitive market. Page one rankings are pure gold dust to commercial websites – so effective search engine optimisation is absolutely essential for their economic success.

There was a period some 10 years ago when the media hype regarding ecommerce had perhaps put the cart before the horse with many businesses jumping on the online shop ecommerce bandwagon only to find that the general public were not ready or confident enough to purchase online. But how things have changed in the space of the last decade!

There are many reports and statistics available on the internet showing how online shopping has grown and its characteristics. One such report into Internet Shopping is that by the Office of Fair Trading in June 2007 – which you can download by selecting this Ecommerce link. It should prove very informative for you.

What then are the reasons why businesses sell online?
1. They are able to target and access more customers and over a wider geographical area in other parts of the UK and even globally.
2. It is possible to sell products automatically via their Ecommerce websites without the normal staffing overheads and can therefore be more competitive and succesful.
3. Online shops can be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days per year all over the world.
4. To combat the competition from their competitors who may have online shops.

What then are the reasons why people buy online?
There are several main reasons which include;

1. Convenience for the purchaser who can save much time and shop at any time of the day and any day of the week.
2. Easy comparison and increased choice of products and prices.
3. Finding cheap, discount prices for products and services.

Some Important Information About Internet Shopping
Based on our research, we have a number of estimated figures that were based on actual research – but please do search the web for yourself to check these out.

1. In 2005 sales to households was in the region of £21 billion – a 30% increase since the previous year and a 400% increase since 2002!
2. Over 20 million UK adults were estimated to have shopped online in 2005.
3. By 2005/6 some 65% of UK households possessed a computer compared with 33% some 7 years earlier.
4. By 2005/6 some 55% of UK households possessed internet access at home compared with only about 10% some 7 years earlier.
5. By 2006 some 40% of GB households possessed broadband internet access compared with 28% just one year earlier.
6. During 2006, 62% of UK adults used the internet in the previous year compared with only 40 per cent some 6 years earlier.
7. In February 2007 the UK had the highest proportion of internet users in Europe.
8. A 2006 OFCOM report found that UK adults used the internet for an average of nearly ten hours a week, approximately two-thirds of them at home.
9. In February 2007, 62% of the UK population used the internet (37.6 million) compared to 61% in Germany, 50% in France and 70% in the US. The world average was 17% or 1.1 billion internet users. [Source: Internet World (2007)].
10. Internet use by UK businesses has increased dramatically – in 2005 some 93% of UK businesses with more than ten employees had computers and 89 per cent had internet access.
11. By 2005 some 70% of businesses had a website.
12. In 2005 internet shopping sales accounted for almost 3% of total UK household spending compared with less than 1% in 2002 – nearly a 400% increase.
13. The Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) estimated the number of online transactions in 2005 at 372 million.
14. 38% of online shoppers had been doing so for two years or less; and 70% had been shopping online for four years or less.
15. 44% of UK adults (over 20 million people) have purchased something via the internet thus representing a significant change in consumer purchasing patterns which is now some 3% of UK household expenditure.
16. 44% of internet shoppers are in the 25 to 44 years age-group, but there is a recent rapid growth in the over-55s!
17. 49% of online shoppers bought at least monthly.
18. A large proportion of online shoppers spend large amounts of money – averaging over £500 per year!