Entries for this year’s Digital Entrepreneur Awards (DEA) in the UK show changes in the e-commerce landscape, with double the amount being received for the ‘E-commerce Entrepreneur of the Year’ award as for the ‘Retail Entrepreneur’ category.
Big high-street names such as Zara and Gap recently entered Britain’s e-tail market.
However, as consumers purchase more services on the internet, other areas of e-commerce are beginning to emerge from retail’s shadow. In fact, IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index shows that the month-on-month growth of online sales is at a record low of 1.9pc for September.
Record entries
Receiving a record number of entries this year, feedback from the DEA submissions reveals that particularly popular online services leveraging the payment gateway include online marketing solutions, information services and delivery networks.
Payment-enabled price-comparison sites have become particularly prolific, according to the award entries received. The latest statistics from comScore show a similar pattern, with the number of people using comparison sites online rising to 50pc of internet users.