How The Welsh Buy Online?

E-commerce is now becoming one of the fastest developing branches of the economy. While online shopping growth surged to 24.8% globally in 2017 when comparing to the previous year, 87% of UK internet users are shopping online.

And how does the UK e-commerce activity look when looking particularly at Welsh consumers?

We’ve analyzed several millions of online transactions made by users in 2017 to find out precisely how much money is being spent as per types of users’ devices, hottest months for e-shopping, most popular days of the week and even favorite time of the day. Our report helps to understand how does Wales compare with England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole.

Wales’ statistics

Welsh internet users are likely to choose mobile devices over the traditional desktop PCs or laptops – 52% of all the analyzed transactions were made via smartphone. The number of desktop transactions is exactly 20% lower. Tablet shopping is – unsurprisingly – only 16%.

When it comes to the average spendings tablet users tend to spend the lowest amount of their money – just slightly above £40 of an average cart value – whereas desktop and laptop shoppers are spending £56. Smartphone e-shopping is clearly the stake winner averaging over £88. There’s an interesting fifteen-quid difference between Android and iOS users’ expenses: £81 for the former and £96 for the latter.

When comparing months, the last quarter of the year is characterized by the highest shopping activity. On the contrary – according to our study – users are not keen on buying online during the first half of the year. The most obvious reason for the discrepancy is the fact that Welsh consumers take full advantage of the shopping festivals taking place during the final months of the year. Needles to mention that in November, when Black Friday and Cyber Monday are celebrated, the average order value rises up to £94, and that’s not far from doubling the previous 10-months average.

Which day of the week is the most popular amongst the Welsh consumers? Computer users choose Sundays, but those using smartphones prefer e-shopping at Thursdays.

For the sake of thoroughness, we’ve also divided 24 hours into equal parts to better understand which time of the day is the most popular for doing online shopping. At night (midnight to 6 AM) Welsh are finalizing only 5% of the total purchases. In the morning this percentage increases to 22%, rising to 33% during the day (noon to 6 PM), reaching its peak in the evening (6 PM to midnight) – 41% of daily online orders in Wales are made during this hours.

When shopping online Welsh users most often buy clothes, as well as home and garden amenities. Sports accessories and gear are quite popular amongst desktop computer users, while goods for children are relatively often purchased using mobile devices.

Wales vs the United Kingdom

Wales, even though closely related to the country’s e-commerce condition, is averaging the lowest numbers amongst all of the UK regions. The average Welsh user’s order value – £62 – is £7 lower than the average for the whole country – £69. The differences are noticeable also when comparing mobile users’ spendings, where the average cart of a mobile consumer from Wales is £3 lower than the average UK mobile consumer, and most visibly computer users – £11 difference. Interestingly though iOS Welsh consumers average higher than average UK citizens by spending almost £96, that’s 5 pounds more.

Let’s look at the full rank as well. As mentioned, Wales took the last place when it comes to the amount of money being spent on online shopping with an over seven-quid difference behind the third spot Scotland. Northern Ireland tops the ranking with an average basket value of almost £72.

1. Northern Ireland – £71.92
2. England – £71.72
3. Scotland – £69.04
4. Wales – £61.66

Aldi, ASDA Groceries and Morrisons are the most popular marketplaces in Wales, however, not many users know that shopping in those places can be made even better with cashback. All you have to do is activate it in Picodi before each purchase.

Methodology

The study refers to the online purchases being made by the UK consumers using desktop and mobile devices in 2017.

Sources

• https://www.statista.com/statistics/288487/forecast-of-global-b2c-e-commerce-growt/
• https://www.gurufocus.com/news/492058/uk-online-shopping-and-ecommerce-statistics-for-2017
• https://www.itpro.co.uk/hardware/30467/tablet-sales-decline-for-the-13th-quarter-in-a-row

Fair Use Statement

Your readers are interested in the topic of regional e-commerce trends? Great! We are looking forward to see the results of our research shared for any non commercial purpose. In order to share the above results please ensure a link back to this very page and refer Picodi.com, so that your readers can enjoy the study in its entirety and our contributors earn the proper credit for their work.