UK shoppers four times more likely to buy from online marketplaces than direct from retailers

Of the nearly 70% of UK shoppers regularly shopping online, more than half are doing so via marketplaces, with Amazon being four-times more popular than retailer sites and apps, according to internetretailing.net.

Research by Adobe finds that 57% of shoppers are buying from marketplaces, compared to 13% on retailer websites – Adobe’s inference being that, even with more time on their hands and restrictions to shopping in-store, consumers were drawn to the broad product ranges, robust delivery infrastructure and limited steps between logging-on and checking-out that characterise marketplaces.

Additionally, between March and June, the average online shopper made 11 purchases from an online marketplace, and just three from an online retailer.

Commenting on the findings, Peter Bell, Marketing Director, EMEA, at Adobe, says: “The rapid increase in demand for online shopping in the first few weeks of the pandemic, together with rapidly migrating business online and supply chain issues, made it an exceptionally challenging time for all retailers. Marketplaces were able to get ahead of other retailers and brands, thanks to their ability to scale quickly and establish a reputation for reliability that saw them become the first port-of-call for a wide range of goods.”