PwC: 'nearly all under 55 will buy online in 2011'

A report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers provides some hard numbers for the general feeling that ecommerce has plenty of growth left.

PwC surveyed 1,500 consumers and studied online penetration by product category to come to their conclusions. They cite three reasons why ecommerce will continue to grow rapidly:

1) As web-savvy youngsters age they'll bring their online habits with them
2) At all ages there is a sizeable group intending to start buying online soon
3) Greater online confidence means consumers will tend to increase the variety of categories they buy & the size of each purchase

Overall PwC predict that online sales (excluding eBay & travel) will account for 10% of retail spend by 2011.

Action:

1) Remember that 10% is the average across all sectors. Some sectors are already seeing significant high street impact from online sales - cameras being a good example, with Jessops announcing the closure of 25% of its stores this week.

2) Don't wait until your online competitors have the size and strength to hurt you, as it may be too late. Why isn't Jessops selling more cameras and prints online? They didn't start early enough.