Brighton consumers are more likely to shop online than any others in the country. The reasons for this are partly the demographic and educational profile of the city's residents (computer-per-head ratio and e-literacy etc) and also that Brighton is an increasingly difficult city to struggle in and out of than many others in the UK.
Royal Mail is making up some of the revenue lost to email by delivering an ever-growing sack full of presents bought online for Christmas. This year the postman will deliver 70 million items compared with 55 million last year.
According to a Royal Mail survey 22% of people in Brighton said that buying Christmas presents was their least favourite festive activity and 27% said they took more than 7 days to complete the chore. Not having to make the effort to travel into town was given as a key reason for shopping online.
According to a separate study also carried out by Royal Mail conventional shopping time could be reduced by a factor of eight by shopping online.
The challenge for Brighton’s retailers is to make sure that they are taking a substantial slice of the online market as they are losing a slice of the conventional market to other more accessible towns.
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Shopping & Eating Out Guide
3 December 2008