Scotland urged to exploit online shopping market

Published on Saturday 5 December 2009 13:12

SCOTLAND is missing out on its share of the online shopping market and is failing to cash in on the internet's soaring popularity in comparison with the British high street, experts are warning.

The most recent report from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that e-commerce now accounts for 9.8 per cent of UK sales, up from 7.7 per cent a year ago. The value of internet sales by UK businesses rose to 222.9 billion, up from 163bn – an increase of 36.6 per cent.

Kelkoo has recently reported that online shopping is forecast to account for 20 per cent of all UK Christmas shopping this year. Research indicates that by 2015, online sales will account for over 50 per cent of all UK sales. However, while online sales grow, there is not one Scottish company among the list of top UK "e-shops".

Polly Purvis, executive director of technology industry trade body ScotlandIS, said: "The ONS report highlights the imperative need for Scottish businesses to take advantage of this rapidly growing sales channel."

ScotlandIS is hosting an event entitled Maximise Your Online Profits, in Edinburgh on Tuesday. Jim Mather, minister for enterprise, energy and tourism, is among the speakers.

Purvis said: "Scottish businesses in sectors as diverse as seafood, construction industry tools, specialist furnishings, musical instruments and holiday and travel have effectively used the power of e-commerce as a channel to new markets and are flourishing as a result."

She said online sales in both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets have grown hugely year on year and this would continue.

But she added: "While many Scottish businesses have an online presence, a large number don't have truly transaction websites, so there is still a lot to do to grow this increasingly important channel to market."

Mark Brock at Barrhead Travel, which has built an online transaction site and is taking part in the ScotlandIS conference, said: "The website is an important sales channel for us and we have further developed this to focus on using the web to enhance customer service."