By Gavin Haycock
LONDON (Reuters) - The growth of non-food sales over the Internet shows no signs of abating, but click-and-buy is no panacea for retailers' problems, says Kevin Hawkins, Director General of the British Retail Consortium.
"I really would be skeptical about technology coming galloping over the hill to the rescue," Hawkins said at the Reuters Consumer and Retail summit in London.
For some, like Britain's biggest foodseller Tesco Plc (TSCO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Asda, the Internet is a gateway to a rich seam of new sales, tapping into both existing and new customers.
Tesco's latest full-year results showed sales via its online site, which handles more than 200,000 orders a week, surged 32 percent in the year to almost 1 billion pounds ($1.84 billion), with profits up 55 percent to 56.2 million pounds.
At the same time, the company said it was investigating whether it could build a substantial online non-food business.
Despite surging sales, the company's online business has a long way to go before it gets anywhere near to challenging overall sales, which rose 13 percent to a hefty 42 billion pounds.
Still, 40 to 50 percent of new business now comes over the Web, Tesco Finance Director Andrew Higginson told Reuters.
Tesco's online business has grown at 25-30 percent a year for a number of years and looks set to do so again this year. Continued...
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.
| Paper | Aug 20 - 21, 2008 | Manufacturing |
| Japan Investment | Jul 01 - 2, 2008 | Country Summits |
| Global Real Estate | Jun 23 - 25, 2008 | Real Estate |
| Consumer and Retail | Jun 16 - 18, 2008 | Consumer Retail |
| Investment Outlook | Jun 09 - 12, 2008 | Financial Services / Exchanges |
