Online sales are set to rocket over the next few years, as consumers are slowly moving away from supermarkets, a new study from IGD reveals.
The number of purchases made on ecommerce sites will rise 119 per cent by April 2019, whereas sales at the four largest supermarkets will fall by four per cent. Morrisons, Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s will see their sales drop to £70.8 billion within the next five years. Currently, their sales stand at around £73.7 billion, reports thedrum.com.
Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of IGD, says supermarkets need to be inclusive of digital technology if they want to keep up with online.
“People are now more willing to shop around at different types of grocery formats, such as convenience stores, discounters or buying online,” she explains. “They have more options available to them than ever before. Shoppers now expect grocery retailing to organise itself around their lives rather than building their routines around store opening hours.”
At the moment, sales from the internet, convenience stores and discount chains equal £55.9 million, but this will grow to £87.3 million by 2019, reports telegraph.co.uk. In five years time, ecommerce sites will account for 8.3 per cent of all grocery sales. However, online still has some way to go to catch up with convenience stores, which will make up 24.1 per cent of the market.
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