Internet shopping overtakes catalogues

More people now shop over the internet than use traditional mail order catalogues, according to research published today.

According to one analyst, the catalogue industry is ideally placed to cash in on the internet shopping boom yet is failing to respond to the challenge.

New figures show that 32% of adults said they bought over the net in 2004 whereas 25% had bought from a catalogue.

The research from consumer analyst Mintel shows that, while the internet figure was up from just 9% from 2000, the number of people shopping through traditional catalogues has dropped dramatically from 53% four years before.

Richard Perks, director of retail research at Mintel, said: 'Mail order has failed to change or diversify sufficiently to appeal to today's more demanding and sophisticated home shopping audience and Mintel believes that the situation is largely the same across Europe.

'Home shopping retailers must admit that the days of the big book are over and that the great hope of the home shopping industry is, or should be, the internet. The trouble with the mail order industry at the moment is that it tends to see the internet as a threat, where it should be seen as an opportunity.'

Last year two in three British adults had done some form of home shopping, either through a catalogue, the internet or from a direct seller.According to Mintel's Perks, traditional mail order companies have the logistics and expertise to be able to lead home shopping over the next decade, but they show little sign of having the will to do so.

He said: 'There is a place for home shopping and it will grow its share in the longer term. But if the existing players do not respond quickly it will be new operators, such as internet pureplays or the mail order businesses associated with store-based retailers, such as Tesco, Argos or Fnac, which will be the beneficiaries.

'The future for the home shopping industry lies in responding to the opportunities opened up by the internet. The sooner it realises that the better.'

Mintel said home shopping is a £46bn industry across Europe, with Germany, the UK and France making up up three-quarters of the market.