Total retail search volumes grew 11% in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The increase was driven by a rise in mobile/tablet search volumes which grew by 132% year-on-year.

Total search volumes from overseas consumers rose by 57% in Q1 compared with the previous year. During the January sales, search volumes on mobile/tablets were at their highest, peaking on the 2 January 2012. There was a noticeable peak in retail searches on mobile/ tablet devices two weeks before Mother’s Day - 4th March.

In the first quarter, total search volumes grew at their fastest rate for health and beauty and food and drink related items, up 21% year-on-year. For mobile, growth in search volumes was highest for food and drink, up by 172% year-on-year.

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said:
“Squeezed household budgets mean customers are turning more and more to the internet to research what they’re buying and look for best value. Being able to check competitors’ goods and prices while they’re in a store is a big part of the continuing boom in retail searches via mobiles and tablets... The number of overseas consumers searching for UK retailers has soared 57% for this quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. These statistics demonstrate the growth potential of online for UK retailers and the part retail can play in building a recovery based on exports, given the right conditions and a genuinely free-trade world market place.”