According to the “UK B2C E-Commerce Report 2012”  out today by yStats.com, 50% of all brick and mortar stores are expected to close by 2020 in the UK as the shopping and commerce continue to move online.

While the report concentrates on the UK, there its only logical that the stats, reasoning and conclusions contained in the report are equally applicable to the US.

“Aside from trends, revenue figures and market shares, the report covers the most successful product categories, Internet user and online shopper figures and the top players dominating UK E-Commerce.”

“In the United Kingdom, not only does the number of Internet users continue to grow, but also the number of online shoppers. ”

“Whereas in 2010, two thirds of the British population ordered products and services online, in 2011 this figure increased to more than 70%, compared to an EU average of less than half of the population making online purchases.”

“Food and Fashion Items are important British E-Commerce Product Categories ”

“In the first half of 2012, shoppers in the UK spent almost 35 billion GBP online, which shows a clear increase when compared to the previous year’s figures.”

“Forecasts for 2012 predict an increase in B2C E-Commerce revenue of a high one digit percentage figure in the UK. “Fashion and sporting goods” were the most popular product categories in 2011, followed by “travel” and “household items”.

“Other successful product categories were “movies/music” and “books and magazines”.

“Online food purchases are also becoming increasingly popular. ”

“Revenue from online food purchases is expected to grow by more than 10 % annually over the next few years.”

“Fashion and clothing are likewise popular E-Commerce products in the UK. ”

“Almost half of all consumers make at least one purchase per month in this category. Aside from purchases, researching product information about fashion items is also a popular trend.”

“Mobile shopping is another growing trend in the UK. ”

“As much as 5% of all E-Commerce revenue is generated using mobile devices. Additionally, more than half of all smartphone users have made at least one purchase with their mobile phones. Safety and transaction speed are particularly important for consumers in this context. Furthermore, researching product related information with the help of a mobile phone is widespread in Great Britain. ”

“• As online shopping becomes more and more popular in the UK, it is expected that almsot half of physical stores will be forced to close until 2020.”

“• B2C E-Commerce sales in the UK are expected to experience declining growth rates from 2013 on.”

“Clothes, Sports Goods” (41%) was the leading online product category among individuals in the UK in 2011, followed by “Travel and Holiday Accommodation” and “Household Goods”.

“Amazon.co.uk was the B2C E-Commerce website in the UK with most traffic in May 2012, followed by Argos.co.uk and Tesco.com.”
“The three leading daily deal sites Groupon, KGB Deals, and LivingSocial sold almost 4 million daily deal coupons in the UK in Q1 2012.”

“Founded in 2005, yStats.com is committed to the research of objective, demand-based and up-to-date data on markets and competitors for top managers from various industries including retail, home shopping, E-Commerce, telecommunication, logistics and energy. The Hamburg-based company is a specialist for secondary research with a clear international focus.”

You can download the whole report here, but its going to set you back 1,450 Euro’s