Online search activity for UK retailers, especially from consumers outside the EU, has maintained its growth trajectory into 2018 – reflecting an ongoing trend to shop online.
According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Google’s Online Retail Monitor, fashion saw the highest growth in search, boosted by international consumers seeking UK brands online.
Non-EU overseas mobile searches for British fashion retailers grew by 13 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018.
Within the EU, Italy had the strongest year-on-year growth in searches for UK fashion brands, reporting 31 per cent growth.
In the UK, online consumers in the North and Yorkshire represented the highest portion of Google searches in the first quarter, with 26 per cent.
This was higher than London’s 23 per cent.
Meanwhile, beauty saw high search activity from UK-based consumers, with growth of 10 per cent in the first quarter.
Beauty also saw the highest year-on-year growth for non-EU overseas searches during the same period, with 22 per cent growth.
“We can expect online retail search activity to maintain this upward growth trend as retailers continue to invest in improving their online offering for consumers,” BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said.
Google retailer director Martijn Bertisen said: “Retail activity overall was up compared to the same period last year, due in part to the ‘Beast from the East’ at the end of February; no doubt as many stayed indoors connected to their devices.”
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