This month has seen another stark warning for retailers, with Experian reporting that online discount shopping has reached new heights....
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div> This month has seen another stark warning for retailers, with Experian reporting that online discount shopping has reached new heights.
Of course, the UK is already well ahead of the field when it comes to online shopping with developments being closely watched worldwide, but according to new research from the credit rating company, visits to sites such as online pound shops are witnessing "huge" year-on-year growth.
And discount shoppers are now likely to be families with both parents on solid incomes, as even the wealthiest groups in society look harder for value.
The analysis found that visits to "discount Britain" websites (price comparison, social shopping, vouchers, cashback, pound shops and other austere shopping sites) grew 17 per cent between 2012 and 2013.
Growth for these categories show dramatic rises in:
• Online pound shops: 34 million visits - +88 per cent;
• Social shopping sites: 523 million visits - +57 per cent;
• Voucher sites: 350 million visits - +18 per cent; and
• Cashback sites: 184 million visits - +3 per cent.
Social shopping sites, where people come together to access deals, have become the main hub for discount shoppers, with consumers making the most of daily discount emails to alert them.
With pound shops beginning to develop online offerings and seeing 3.5 million visits a month, this category is the fastest growing of the austere shopping sites, and could accelerate rapidly in 2014, as more pound shop brands go online.
And who are these online discount shoppers? Middle Britain is now at the forefront of the trend, with families with young children where both parents are likely to earn solid incomes (gross annual household income of £40,000 - £100,000) leading the trend.
None of the above is good news for the High Streets or for commercial property values and the findings can only confirm Mary Portas' view that: "How we shop as a nation has quite simply changed beyond recognition. Forever." But perhaps even Ms Portas would find the latest figures on "discount Britain" astounding.
Meanwhile, Asda is reportedly building 300 new stores in an attempt to regain some of its market share from Sainsbury's, Aldi and Lidl. The German supermarkets have actually increased market share by over 100 per cent in just five years - most usually locating themselves in the cheaper parts of town.
According to Construction Enquirer magazine, the supermarket giant is planning a five-year store building programme to make its presence felt in the South with 40 major superstores, 100 new supermarkets and 150 forecourt shops, two-thirds of which will be in the South East (London, Cornwall and Devon).
Without doubt, this is a bold and spirited response to the challenges presented by Aldi, Lidl and Sainsbury's, which now alongside Asda holds second place for market share in the supermarket wars.
But while competition is good, both on and off the High Street, leading names are sucking cash out of local independent retailers and corner shops as they have been doing for years.
The big supermarkets are also impacting the rental market for retailers with their convenience stores - suddenly local comparable rent is what Tesco or Morrisons will pay and let's face it, the only reason Asda is proposing to open 150 forecourt shops is because it has driven rival filling stations out of business.
So while competition is good, domination is bad, negatively impacting shopping trends, local rents and local commercial property markets.
Add internet shopping to the mix and the writing is surely on the wall for UK retail. But while there are plenty of analysts trying to translate the message, I think it will be some time before the full impact of supermarket convenience stores and "austerity" shopping by Middle Britain reveal themselves.
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