Two pieces of retail research news today: no mention of social networks, just shops selling goods to customers.

The Times has:

“Online sales of groceries are predicted to double over next five years  Sarah Butler

“The amount of groceries sold over the internet is expected to double in the next five years, according to new research that suggests that one in ten shoppers will no longer visit a supermarket by 2012.

“IGD, the grocery market research organisation, predicts that sales of groceries online will reach £5 billion in five years’ time, although this will still be a small fraction of the £156 billion expected value of the total grocery market. At present only 2 per cent of groceries are sold online and that would rise to just over 3 per cent by 2012, according to the IGD’s figures.

“Grocery retailers said that they believed IGD’s predictions were conservative and that online grocery sales, which are increasing by about 30 per cent a year, could double within the next three years.  [...]

“Tesco, by far the biggest online grocer in the UK, sells £1.23 billion of groceries online – about 3½ times the level achieved five years ago. Last year its online grocery sales rose by about 30 per cent.
Those sales make up nearly 5 per cent of Tesco’s UK business”

while the FT has:

“Affluent flock to online stores  By Tom Braithwaite

“London’s affluent commuter belt boasts the UK’s largest number of home shopping devotees as cash-rich, time-poor consumers flock to the internet. Two-thirds of home shopping hotspots are now in the home counties, while the north and Scotland lag behind, on a list compiled by Experian.

“The data research company found Sunningdale in Berkshire had vaulted to the top of this year’s list, overtaking Barnes in south-west London, with an average spend of £137 a head in the 12 months to June. Two-thirds of the top 100 towns were within commuting distance of London, while 77 per cent were in the south.

“Overall home shopping spend increased by 15 per cent in 2006-07 as more retailers launched transactional websites, broadband penetration increased and consumers became more web savvy.”