Almost nine in 10 Britons shop at Amazon
Amazon's dominance of UK retail has been revealed in a new study which shows that 86% of shoppers are customers of the internet giant.
The study from Mintel also shows that Amazon customers are also increasing their spend with the company year on year with 21% saying they've grown their Amazon spend in the past year versus 13% who say they have decreased it.
Fashion and jewellery is one of the most popular categories too with 30% saying they have bought these items from Amazon in the past year. The most popular category is hardcopy media (DVDs, books, video games) at 39% while electricals are on a par with fashion at 30%, followed by toys at 20%.
Furthermore approaching half (45%) of UK households have some form of Amazon device with Kindle (23%), Fire TV/TV Stick (16%), Fire Tablet (14%), and Echo (11%) proving the most popular.
Amazon Echo and Echo Look app
Trust seems to be at the centre of Amazon's success with just over half (51%) of consumers believing it will always offer the best price with 59% saying they are loyal to the company. Furthermore 70% say it is the first retailer they turn to for online shopping.
"In a little over 20 years, it has grown to be a retailer that nearly all consumers use."
Nick Carroll, Mintel
Nick Carroll, Mintel Associate Director of Retail, said: “Amazon is a phenomenon of 21st century retail. In a little over 20 years, it has grown to be a retailer that nearly all consumers use. It has achieved this through a relentless focus on customer-facing investment and innovation.
"Amazon started selling books, but now holds a significant share in almost all retail categories, helped by the incubation of thousands of independent sellers through its Marketplace scheme. The retail giant has expanded far past the bounds of normal retail operations into media streaming, consumer electronics and cloud computing. Amazon has built a platform that customers are both happy to use, and pay for the privilege of doing so via its various subscription services.”
Around four in ten shoppers are subscribed to Amazon Prime with just over a quarter (26%) personally being members and a further 13% sharing access through someone else’s account. Scaled to a national level, Mintel places Amazon Prime membership in the UK at around the 15m mark.
Prime shoppers tend to spend more than non-members with the main perk being speedy, no additional cost delivery with 66% of shoppers saying this is a service they regularly use. However the biggest barrier to Amazon’s recruitment of more members appears to be price, some 44% of those who have never been members put this down to the scheme being too expensive.
"Prime members buy significantly more, and across a broader number of categories, than non-members."
Nick Carroll, Mintel
“While most consumers already shop with Amazon, the retailer continues to gain market share by increasing the number of Prime members. That’s because Prime members buy significantly more, and across a broader number of categories, than non-members. This is why Amazon continues to add to the list of Prime-exclusive services, with Premier League matches coming in the second half of this year. Regardless of the reasons people join Prime - there is a net benefit for the retail side of the business,” Carroll added.
Loyalty to Amazon has come despite the fact that shoppers believe it has had a negative impact on the British high street with 45% saying they believed it was responsible for high street stores closing. Meanwhile, three quarters (75%) of Amazon shoppers say they often check the prices of products they see in-store on Amazon. And physical retailers are probably being used as showrooms, as 70% of Amazon shoppers say they research products elsewhere but then buy via the site.
That said there is acknowledgement of the support Amazon offers through its Marketplace and philanthropic work with 40% of Amazon usher saying it supports independent retailers and 29% saying that shopping via Amazon Smile is a good way to give to charity.
“Amazon’s growth has no doubt wounded rivals, but it is not the ‘high street’ killer that it is often painted out to be. It has certainly led on, and to a degree enforced, many trends that have come to define 21st century retail, however it is not all conquering at present.
"Indeed, even if the retailer accounted for roughly 50% of the online market held by online-only retailers, it would only account for around 9% of all UK retail sales. And despite the popularity of online retailing as a whole, the vast majority of all retail sales (82%) in the UK still come through physical stores. This leaves much room for its own growth but equally for rivals to fight back.” Carroll concluded.
Research for the Amazon: A Shopper's Perspective UK 2019 Report was carried out among 2,000 nationally representative internet users aged 16+ in October 2018.
