A promising year ahead

Seven in 10 UK SME online retailers are confident that their sales will increase in 2020, according to our latest study.

Among the main reasons for this is that 48% plan to increase advertising/marketing spend and 36% intend to make changes to improve the customer experience.

Almost 80% of these retailers rate the prospects for business as good or very good over the next five years. With global reach and the leading enabler of ecommerce in the UK, we are well placed to observe trends across the industry.

The biggest perceived challenges for UK SME online retailers in 2019 were online competition, economic uncertainty in the UK and pricing goods competitively. 62% of retailers experienced an uplift in sales last year, compared to the previous year.

UK SME online retailers are increasingly looking overseas to increase their sales. Our study also found two-thirds of UK SME online retailers currently sell overseas. These retailers sell the most to Europe, USA, Asia and the Middle East.

This year, 62% of online retailers intend to increase their international sales revenue. Key plans for increasing international sales revenue include: simplifying the sales/ordering/delivery and payment process, selling more to the markets they already sell to and targeting new markets and countries.

Shane O’ Riordain, managing director of marketing, regulation and corporate affairs, said ‘As we enter a new decade, the level of business confidence is promising for 2020 and the years beyond.

‘Royal Mail already supports a wide range of retail businesses, providing them with the tools they need to succeed in the UK and across the globe. We look forward to working with even more of these great businesses this year.’