Tomorrow is Cyber Monday but it appears we are increasingly becoming a nation of online shoppers falling out of love with the high street.
While sales at traditional bricks and mortar shops have flat lined, the online sector has seen double-digit growth over the past few years. However, Scottish academics are questioning just how good this consumer boom is for society.
David Martin, head of policy at the Scottish Retail Consortium believes this trend is set to continue because consumers prefer the ease of shopping on the internet.
“Growth in terms of non-food sales on the high street has largely been stagnant for the last three years. Online, however, we have seen double-digit growth and there’s no indication that will not continue,” he said.
“We’ve seen up to 20 per cent year-on-year growth in the non-food online category, there is a suggestion this will grow and that will be dependent on technological improvements such as broadband rollout and 4G penetration.”
Online sales currently account for just a fifth of overall non-food sales but this low base allows huge growth, as price conscious consumers prefer the ease of internet shopping and its convenience.
One Glasgow shopper, echoing many others, said she did most of her shopping online now. Angela Bitters, 35, who works at Tesco Bank, said: “I mostly shop online these days. It makes it easier when you have three kids and you can search for the best bargains and there’s more choice online.”
The rush to online buying, which requires just the click of a button at anytime of day, has led to concerns that people are getting into debt to fund unnecessary online purchases, fuelled by marketing events such as Cyber Monday.
Yvonne MacDermid, chief executive of Money Advice Scotland, said: “I think marketeers want to sell as much as possible and create a lot of hype, and I absolutely understand that, but the public has to be a bit stronger in saying no.
“We would urge consumers to stop and think about their purchases, especially big purchases and think whether they really need them, especially if they are purchasing them on credit.”
Days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday have also led to the rising popularity of campaigns such as Buy Nothing Day.
The group’s UK founder, Michael Smith, said: “It’s too easy to buy. What’s happened now is people have smart phones and tablets and they can just click buy on anything they see without thinking 'could I get something cheaper or that would last longer'.”
Evidence of the continued shift in our shopping habits comes as Scottish academics call for a change in the country’s relationship with consumerism.
In a report by experts at Glasgow and Heriot Watt universities, academics recommend a radical shift from what they describe as 'individualistic consumer behaviour'.
Recommendations include creating 'library' style facilities to allow the sharing of expensive equipment, so more people can take part in activities that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive, such as mountaineering.
The report also suggests restricting marketing, especially to children, and controlling the materials used in products and packaging to enhance their recyclability and reduce the effect on the environment.
The authors say they want to move from an ‘I’ society – that of a consumer – to a ‘we’ society – that of a citizen so that people feel free from the pressures of consumerism and live more fulfilled lives as part of a community.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel