“Online retailing has only played a role in the retail sector for about 15 years and rather less than that in many countries. Retailers, whether store-based or online pureplayers, are still feeling their way in many respects. It is becoming clear that online retailers cannot compete on price, they need to concentrate on convenience and breadth of range. But, as Amazon is showing with Prime, there will be many other things that they can do to stand out. Online has been growing fast and while it must plateau at some stage, there are very few signs that we are reaching a first stage of maturity yet. But it is also becoming clear that for store-based retailers the distinction between online and in-store sales is artificial and it is only for the pureplayers that online is an independent channel of distribution.”

– Richard Perks, Director of Retail Research

This Report discusses the following key issues:

Which devices consumers used to shop online in the last 12 months

Membership of Amazon Prime

Retailers used for online shopping in the last 12 months.

Responses to a series of attitudinal statements relating to online retailers in general

Reasons for not shopping online.