Consumer belt-tightening brings bargain-hunters to the web
Etailers could find that 2008 is an ideal year to prime their search engine marketing (SEM) efforts, with more and more consumers said to be scouring the web for bargain deals.
Online retailers were claimed by web shopping consumer guidance group Shopsafe.co.uk to be the most likely to offer discounted products, with the economic downturn leading increasing numbers of consumers to scope out the web for cheap deals.
A recent report from the IMRG Capgemini e-retail sales index found that online sales in February were 46 per cent higher than at the same point last year, with online sales of beer, wine and spirits even up a full 38 per cent.
Simon Crisp, director of Shopsafe.co.uk, said: "Especially in these times of the credit crunch, people are just looking for bargains and for deals and online is the place to get it.
"One of the big trends with online shopping at the moment are these discount codes and vouchers - secret sales if you will -where huge names are giving out codes where you can go and get 10 or fifteen per cent off."
A record was set last year when GBP46.6 billion worth of goods were sold over the internet, constituting some fifteen per cent of 2007’s retail purchases.
