Overseas shoppers helped British retailers notch up a positive end to 2013, realbusiness.co.uk reports.
According to newly-published figures from Google and the British Retail Consortium, the number of overseas shoppers browsing British stores had significantly increased over the course of 2013, thanks to more people than ever browsing on their smartphones or tablets.
The duo found that visits to British-based online retailers during Q4 2013 from smartphone users increased by 64 per cent year on year. It was a similar story for tablet users, who posted their own increase of 41 per cent.
Specifically, it was browsers from Germany, Russia and Argentina who were found to be most responsible for driving these increases, with the number of smartphone users browsing British retailers increasing by 231, 145 and 137 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, Germany also drove strong growth among tablet users as well, thanks to a year-on-year rise of 130 per cent. The next most popular country for tablet users heading to British shops was France which saw an annual increase of 78 per cent. Then, following closely behind were Russia (66 per cent), Ireland (56 per cent) and the Netherlands (47 per cent).
Commenting on the findings, Google retail director Peter Fitzgerald told reuters.com: “This Christmas mobile truly came into its own. Those retailers who invested in cross-device experiences – allowing their customers to easily find, buy and discover no matter where they are – reaped the rewards.”
Comments are closed.