The high street continues to suffer, but UK retailers surf the online wave

The decline of the UK high street has been a widely talked about subject: the recession, lack of investment, high business rates, lack of parking, a decline in retail profits, shops closing and businesses going into administration have all adversely affected a number of high streets and local communities. And, for the first time since 2009, major retailers closed more shops in 2011 than they opened.

Whilst the Government is trying to arrest this decline, the Portas Review, which aims to identify what the Government, local authorities and businesses can do to promote the development of more prosperous and diverse high streets, is only just underway and a resurgence in the high street may be some way off.

However, whilst traditional retail suffers, online shopping is booming in the UK.

According to recent statistics published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the UK has a higher proportion of adults who shop online than any other OECD country. The statistics revealed that 60 per cent of UK adults bought something online in 2011 – twice the average of the OECD’s 34 member states, which include the US, Germany, Australia and France. And UK consumers are spending a lot of money online too: according to the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), the UK spent £68.2bn on the internet in 2011, which is equivalent to £2,180 for every adult in the country.

And this is not an isolated statistic.

The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index reveal that shoppers in the UK spent a total of £6bn online during January 2012, equivalent to £118 per person, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 16 per cent.

When compared with the high-street and wider retail sector, online retail is not just proving resilient in the economic gloom, but is positively flourishing.

An article in the Financial Times this week looked at how manufacturers of household and personal goods in the UK and US are hoping to expand their online presence and are now looking at ways to use social media to target customers. Whilst some companies, such as Heinz, Thorntons and Asos, are already marketing or selling items through their Facebook pages, Reckitt Benckiser has just launched a washing-up liquid product which is exclusively sold on Facebook.

There is no doubt that the use of Facebook can help to develop the retailer-customer relationship; by doing so, it could be argued that retailers’ desire to make the shopping experience more personal is a return to the ‘good old days’ when local shopkeepers in the high street butcher’s or baker’s shop knew their customers by name.

Are we going back to the future?