‘Super Shoppers’ account for 70% of all UK retail spending, shows Deloitte-eBay study

People who browse across different mobile devices and make use of on-to-offline services are 30% more likely to do research online before committing to a purchase, says a new study by Deloitte, commissioned by eBay. Labelled as ‘Super Shoppers’ they make up the 18% of people who shop most frequently and accounted for 70% of total UK retail sales in 2013, spending more than £200 billion.

“Compared to other consumers, these so-called “Super Shoppers” account for a larger share of spending, use a wider range of resources to research purchases and they do this using a greater variety of channels. Our study suggests that retailers can target this valuable group through a broad presence over a range of channels, says Ian Geddes, partner at Deloitte. “Customers are in the driving seat, pushing retailers for ever higher standards of service and greater convenience. They expect your store and online channels to be joined up and can have little patience if they aren’t. For example, customers want to collect in store or return via the store, even if they bought online,” observes Tanya Lawler vice president of eBay in the UK.

The study also found that while 31% of shoppers visit a store prior to making a purchase online, more people (34%) research online and then complete the purchase in store. The report also found that online sales do not cannibalise sales from stores, especially in the fashion sector. It is a concern for retailers that online operations take sales away from their bricks and mortar stores but the research found that in the UK, over 95% of online dress sales are additional to high street sales. According to Deloitte estimates, €9 billion of sales in the UK last year may have been enabled by omnichannel retail.