[Focus on Europe] UK e-commerce market, one of the top three in the world Seize the opportunity to expand overseas by utilizing good logistics

UK e-commerce market is top three in the world Expand overseas with good logistics

1. Essential Knowledge: E-commerce market worth over 100 billion pounds

★ Market size: The e-commerce market in the UK is the largest in Europe and one of the top three in the world.

★ Online shopping ratio: With a population of over 67 million, more than 95% of people in the UK shop online.

****★** E-commerce scale:** In the past three years, the annual e-commerce retail sales have exceeded 100 billion pounds each year.

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****★ Trend of growth:** According to a report by Statista, it is predicted that the revenue of e-commerce in the UK will increase to 177.72 billion pounds by 2023, with a potential growth rate of over 29%.

2. Essential Knowledge: E-commerce platform race in the UK

Monthly website visits of e-commerce platforms in the UK in 2022 (source: Webretailer)

Although old cross-border e-commerce platforms such as eBay and Amazon still rank high, some emerging e-commerce platforms are rapidly rising. Currently, there is less competition for sellers on these platforms, making it worth keeping an eye on and exploring. For example:

Fruugo

The platform’s revenue in 2022 exceeded 65 million pounds, a year-on-year increase of 110%. From 2018 to 2022, its revenue increased nearly tenfold, with a compound annual growth rate of 77%.

Onbuy

OnBuy is the fastest-growing B2C e-commerce platform in the UK. In 2022, its annual sales reached 120 million pounds, and its monthly active customer base reached 6 million people. Most of the sellers on the platform are from the UK, so it is a blue ocean market worth exploring for Chinese sellers with less competition.

3. Essential Knowledge: Popular Chinese Products

According to statistics, China is the most popular country for cross-border e-commerce, accounting for 40% of cross-border goods, followed by the United States (30%) and Germany (14%). British consumers have higher trust in Chinese brands and products. According to Statista, fashion is the perennial best-selling category, with over a quarter of the retail sales of textiles, clothing, and footwear coming from e-commerce channels. The second most popular category is electronics and innovative small appliances. At the same time, beauty and personal care, sports products, and home and garden products are also popular among British consumers for online shopping.

The most popular cross-border e-commerce categories in 2022 (source: statista)

4. Important information about shipping: High logistics requirements of British consumers

2022 British consumer logistics preferences (source: Landmark Global)

Landmark has found that the most important factors for British consumers in logistics are: 53% of people believe that they need a reputable express delivery company, 48% value convenient and reasonable return procedures, and 45% hope to be able to track the customs clearance process of the package.

In addition, most British consumers want to know all the delivery stages of their package, including from shipping, customs clearance, delivery to receipt. Furthermore, they have a high demand for returns. According to a market research firm in the UK, 35% of goods in the UK e-commerce market in 2022 were returned, up from 25% in 2021. The high return rate is also a challenge for cross-border sellers.

Export Easy UK Super Line

Fully adapted to British consumer demands for timeliness, tracking, returns, and other aspects, helping cross-border sellers improve customer logistics experience:

➢ Online: Supports pre-online, order is immediately assigned a tracking number

➢ Timeliness: YODEL/RoyalMail delivery at the end, fast and stable delivery time

➢ Tracking: Accurate tracking of the package, real-time tracking online

➢ After-sales: Return to Export Easy overseas warehouse, support re-delivery

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