A new report on the digital economy has found that UK firms' online sales doubled between 2014 and 2021, with individual website sales eclipsing sales via online marketplaces such as Amazon.
A new report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found that online sales made by UK businesses have more than doubled in recent years - from £227.4bn in 2014 to £459.2bn in 2021. Website sales boomed in 2021, with the value of British-based businesses' online sales to UK customers reaching £381.4bn and sales to overseas shoppers adding a further £77.8bn.
Analysis of the data by home delivery expert ParcelHero suggests that sales made via websites "far eclipsed online marketplace results" and it says that small firms (with ten or less employees) also "punched well above their weight".
The ONS findings show that in 2021:
- 34% of all retailers sold online;
- 18% of wholesalers made online sales;
- 16% of manufacturers used ecommerce to sell their products;
- 8% of information and communication businesses sold online.
The report suggests that the UK's smallest and largest businesses have benefitted the most from the online boom. The data shows that 41% of all businesses employing over 1,000 people sell online, achieving UK website sales of £210.5bn in 2021. At the other end of the scale, micro-businesses employing fewer than ten people sold an impressive £49.2bn of products and services online in the UK in 2021.
One in ten small firms sell online
"That's an astonishing achievement by the nation's smallest employers," said David Jinks, ParcelHero's head of consumer research. "In fact, UK micro-businesses' online sales far eclipsed those of larger businesses employing up to 249 employees (£18.2bn).
"UK companies' sales on their own websites and apps significantly exceeded those achieved on online marketplaces and social media sites in 2021. Their domestic website sales were worth £353.8bn. In contrast, their marketplace sales were worth £25.2bn and their social media sales just £2.2bn. Considering the focus many businesses placed on social media in 2021 (at the peak of COVID lockdowns) that's a surprisingly low amount."
Selling in-store and online
David Jinks said: "Proportionately, our smallest businesses punched far above their weight in 2021. However, only 10% of Britain's smallest companies sell online, leaving many of our most treasured micro-businesses still without a web presence. As retail settles to a new equilibrium, it will be those retailers, large or small, with strong in-store and online sales that will ultimately triumph in a post-COVID world."
ParcelHero's report, 2030: Death of the High Street , concludes that, unless retailers develop an omnichannel approach, embracing both online and physical store sales, the High Street as we know it will reach a dead-end by 2030.
Written by Rachel Miller.