Hike In UK Customers Searching For Goods At Overseas Retail Sites

The number of UK customers browsing on overseas sites has jumped in the past three months as shoppers become more confident using foreign sites.

Total search volumes increased 51 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, according to the British Retail Consortium-Google online retail monitor. The BRC said the increase was an indication of changing behaviour and would benefit UK sites as traffic flowed in the other direction.

'The considerable increase this month in the number of UK consumers searching overseas retailers show that barriers are increasingly being broken down. UK retailers are already responding well to these changes and will be keen to continue seeing equivalent increases in overseas customers searching them out,' said BRC director general Helen Dickinson.

Analysis of the figures revealed that interest in US brands and web sites boosted the number of overseas searches while demand from fast growing regions such as South America and Asia boosted UK retailers.


Total retail related seaches increased 15 per cent in the quarter compared to the same period last year. Search volumes on tablets increased 132 per cent and 66 per cent on smartphones and was the highest on the weekend before the Wimbledon Championships.

The arrival of summer weather in the UK also increased demand for fashion with searches for DIY and gardening goods growing the fastest at 32 per cent year-on-year.

Peter Fitzgerald, Retail Director, Google, said of the overall picture: 'Pureplay retailers in particular regained their growth, responding to the pressure of multichannel retailers in the online space.'