New data from the BRC-Google Online Retail Monitor shows that search volumes on tablet devices outpaced those on any other device, increasing 132 per cent in the second quarter of 2013.
Searches on smartphone devices were up 66 per cent, with total retail search volumes growing 15 per cent compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
The findings also showed that total search volumes from UK consumers searching overseas retailers increased by 51 per cent in Q2 compared with the previous year.
British Retail Consortium Director General Helen Dickinson commented: “This quarter‘s search data backs up the trends we have been seeing in the BRC‘s Retail Sales Monitor, with increases in interest in clothing brands and garden products.
“These results also show the changes the internet is bringing to the international retail market. 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.”
Google retail director Peter Fitzgerald said that the UK interest in overseas brands had been driven in particular by interest in US brands. He said: “The second quarter saw strong sustained growth in retail queries. Traditionally this is a strong quarter for DIY & Gardening retailers, a trend we saw repeated this year, fueled by some fair weather and three bank holidays.
“The growing multi-screening phenomenon across the UK – where people use their connected devices whilst watching TV – is also reflected in the growth in queries coming from tablets and smartphones.”
