Online retail website visits and orders in the UK 2024, by device

During the third quarter of 2024, smartphones accounted for 76 percent of retail site visits in the United Kingdom and were used to make 72 percent of online shopping orders. Meanwhile, desktop computers generated 21 percent of retail website traffic and were behind 26 percent of all purchases.

Digital and contactless: new ways to pay

Using smartphones for online and in-person shopping has become increasingly popular. Consumers now enjoy a variety of options when it comes to digital wallets and contactless payments. Consumers using digital wallets in the United Kingdom reached almost 40 percent in 2023. One brand appears at the top, at around 80 percent of usage, when it comes to e-commerce payment methods, PayPal, with double of use compared to the second placed, Apple Pay.

PayPal: dominating digital payments

After being founded in 1998 and becoming an independent company in 2015, PayPal is now one of the most widely used digital payment platforms globally, especially for e-commerce. Due to its reputation for security and ease of use, the brand is widely accepted by consumers. In 2023, in countries such as Mexico, Germany and Italy, consumers use PayPal for online payments over 80 percent of the time.