A report from the EU statistics agency Eurostat showed Britons are the biggest internet buyers with more than four out of five adults having bought items from the internet, compared to just over half of adults across the European Union as a whole.
According to the recent FTA Van Excellence Report, the home-delivery market is driven by the £52.3 billion e-commerce market; with the annual average weekly spend in 2014 of £718.7 million – an increase of 11.8% compared with the previous 12 months. In five years the amount spent online in the UK has more than doubled, with the largest growth area being textiles, clothing and footwear where spending rose by 17.2%.
Mark Cartwright, FTA head of vans said: “Whilst Santa has been able to deliver Christmas in one night previously, with the massive increase of online shoppers it’s clear he’s in need of a helping-hand from the van drivers of Britain this year.
“We live in the world’s leading e-commerce country, and the need for home deliveries to be made wherever and whenever has never been higher. Vans play an essential part in delivering the goods particularly now – the busiest time of the year when consumer demand is at its peak.
“Most of the services essential to modern life are delivered by a van, but despite this – the role that that these 3.6 million vehicles and their drivers play in the UK play is often overlooked.”
Last month’s Black Friday saw shoppers spend a record £1.1bn with UK online retailers in one day – setting a new internet retail record underlining the online shopping revolution.
Mr Cartwright added: “Millions of shoppers are taking the opportunity to search for and select their purchases online, in the expectation that their goods will be delivered on time as promised – by magic. The reality is that this is a highly complex and sophisticated process of supply chain management and operation, which results in items being delivered to the right place, at the right time, and the logistics industry should be recognised and congratulated for its work not only during the festive season but throughout the year.”