Mobile now accounts for 10% of retail searches
The BRC-Google Online Retail Monitor has shown that total retail search volumes grew at their fastest rate this year, up 35% in the third quarter.
The increase was driven by a rise in mobile search volumes of 168% year-on-year.
Mobile accounted for 10% of retail searches and the growth of search volumes for multi-channel retailers reached 26% in the third quarter, compared with 71% for pure online retailers.
Internationally, the number of overseas consumers searching for UK retailers in Q3 grew by 34%. The research also shows a 78% increase in UK consumers searching for overseas retailers as shoppers increasingly look for bargains outside of the UK.
Stephen Robertson, British Retail Consortium director general, commented: “Mounting pressures on household budgets may be generating more online retail searches as people work harder to compare prices and track down value. While searches grew 35%, their fastest this year, the BRC’s Retail Sales Monitor show growth in online spending has actually slowed to ten per cent, suggesting extra searches are a symptom of bargain hunting.
“Even so, online retailing is still expanding quickly compared with selling through stores and searching from mobile devices is showing the most dramatic increase. Retailers are engaging with and encouraging, this shift in shopping behaviour by providing more and easier ways to search and shop via smartphones and shop via smartphones and tablets.”
The top ten retail search terms were as follows:
– Beds
– Dresses
– Flowers
– HP Touchpad
– iPad
– iPhone 5
– Lego
– Recipes
– Wedding dresses
– Xbox
