The essential journalist news source
Back
31.
October
2014.
Number of people shopping for home and garden products online rises

Number of people shopping for home and garden products online rises

 


Betterware believes the sector will continue to grow with more choosing online shopping because it provides better deals and is more convenient

The number of searches for home and garden items over the Q3 2014 increased by 15 percent on the same period last year, recently released figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show.

The BRC and Google’s Online Retail Monitor suggest that people are getting more comfortable when it comes to shopping online, buying a more diverse selection of products, especially for home and garden. It’s also thought that a strong housing market has acted as encouragement to consumers.

There was a 15 percent jump in retail search volumes from Q3 2013 and Q3 2014. The majority of searches were for vacuum cleaners, blenders/juicers and beds.

BRC director general, Helen Dickson, said: “Given this trend, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing people take to the internet to decorate and furnish their homes as well as finding the funds to purchase them. Search volumes in the home and garden category have risen 15 percent compared with the same period last year. This is likely due to an increasingly health housing market as sales in these categories tend to be directly impacted by house sales.”

She also believes that the figures show “consumers are becoming more and more comfortable searching for a wider variety of products on-the-go than has previously been the case.”

Weather could have also played a part, with bad weather leading to more to shop from the comfort of their own home.

Google retail director, Peter Fitzgerald, said: “Home and garden continues to be one of the fastest growing online retail sectors with 15% year on year growth in the third quarter. A warm July led to slower year-on-year growth but that changed in August when ex-hurricane Bertha came to the UK leading to a marked increase in home searches.”

Betterware said the findings tie-in with their own experience. They say that they’re receiving a growing number of people visiting their online store via homeware and gardenware search results.

A spokeswoman for Betterware said: “Shoppers are now much more comfortable getting online and buying products for their home or garden than they were even a few years ago. But we’re also getting a lot more existing Betterware customers who are choosing to shop online because of the extra convenience and new deals.

“In particular, there has been tremendous growth in the number of people using their smartphones to visit our online shop and do their homeware shopping. And with winter fast approaching we’re expecting lots more interest in coming months as the weather and dark nights discourage people from visiting the high street.”

Betterware is one of the UK’s favourite sellers of housewares. Based in Birmingham, they’re known for their low prices and wide range of goods, delivering throughout the country.  Visit their website today at www.betterware.co.uk for more information.