Online addiction Britain keeps the global top spot for grocery shopping on the web

BRITISH shoppers buy more food online than consumers anywhere else in the world, claiming their title for the second year in a row.

Kantar Worldpanel, which tracks spending data across the grocery industry globally, said the online spend per virtual supermarket shopping trip in the UK was $83.40 (£64.90) in 2016. This was marginally down on 2015’s figure of $85.20, which was also the world’s highest, but still puts the UK well ahead of its international rivals when it comes to spending online.

The UK also topped the list in terms of frequency of online shopping with Britons buying more often than anywhere else – an average of 15.4 times a year compared to 14.1 in 2015.

Kantar said the average e-commerce shopping trip in the UK was worth $64.90 more than the average trip to a physical store.

“The higher online spend is a combination of shoppers choosing online primarily for large stock-up trips and retailers requiring a minimum spend,” Kantar said.

Following the UK in online basket size were France ($68.60), Portugal ($53.50), Spain ($43.80) and Taiwan ($33.70). In spite of the growing popularity of internet shopping more broadly, online grocery purchases remain a small fraction of Britons’ total supermarket spend.

Fraser Mckevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel UK, said: “Less than one-third of UK households currently buy their groceries online, suggesting there is still significant headroom for e-commerce to grow from 2016’s 7.3pc market share,” he said.

“The biggest increases in uptake are seen from slightly older shoppers; a combination of families retaining the habit even as their children grow up, and more mature households now feeling confident to take the digital shopping plunge.”

Mr Mckevitt said the biggest barrier to growth was “resolving the tension between what connected consumers want and how retailers can deliver this profitably”.

The data showed that South Korea leads the way in terms of the wider popularity of online grocery shopping with almost 70pc of the population buying on the web more than once per month. China (54.6pc), Taiwan (49.3pc), the UK (27.5pc) and France (26.2pc) followed.