The first reason is its size: it is a relatively large country, with a sizeable population, which means there will likely be a market for your product.
The appeal of this market only grows stronger when you realize that, according to the International Monetary Fund, the UK is the sixth-largest economy in the world in terms of GDP, and the second-largest within Europe, after Germany.
It is also a digitally mature nation. The UK has a population of 68.7 million people. Of these people, around 95% are currently online.
However, it can be challenging to enter a new market. Many brands make the mistake of simply using their American website or content to try to target the British market, since they share the same language. However, doing this and failing to localize your offerings, your content and the type of language you use is a recipe for disaster.
In order to succeed in the British market, you must make sure to properly localize your efforts, tailoring your offerings and your marketing materials to the needs and expectations of the local audience.
There is a fairly equal gender split, with 95% of males being internet users, along with 94% of females.
The table below shows internet usage by age group in the UK. As you can see, there are high levels of internet usage all the way up to the age of 74, with this then dropping off over the age of 75:
Be aware there is a slight urban-rural digital divide in the UK, with 99% of urban premises having access to a “decent” broadband service, compared to 95% of rural premises.
The typical British internet user spends 6 hours and 2 minutes online every day. Research by Meltwater and We Are Social found that the top three reasons British users gave for using the internet were: finding information, researching how to do things, and staying in touch with friends and family.
Online privacy is important to this group. According to recent research, 44% of British internet users decline cookies on websites, 38% worry about how companies might use their online data, 28% use ad blocking tools, and 26% use a VPN to access the internet.
54% of internet traffic in the UK comes from mobile phones, 41% comes from desktop computers, and 5% comes from tablets.
This means that it is extremely important to have a mobile-friendly website to meet the demands of internet users and provide them with a positive user experience when interacting with your brand and website. Mobile-friendliness is also an increasingly crucial ranking factor for search engines, so not optimizing your website for mobile will prove detrimental to your organic traffic.
Given the dominance of mobile, it should come as no surprise that apps are popular in the UK. During 2023, people in the UK collectively downloaded 2.3 billion apps. These app users clocked up an annual spend of USD 4.5 billion on apps and in-app purchases, up 16% on the previous year. The popularity of apps presents a big opportunity for brands wanting to target the British market. If you create an app, make sure to localize the language, especially if you are B2C. Make sure your app functions correctly and is valuable for users, otherwise your brand might suffer not only from poor return-on-investment but also negative reviews.
Internet speeds are faster than the global average on broadband, and around the global average on mobile. The UK ranks 46th in the world for fixed broadband speed, with a median speed of 106.51 MB per second. It ranks 44th for mobile internet speed, with a median speed of 54.51 MB per second.
Google is the most popular search engine in the UK, with a market share of 94%. Bing comes in second place with 3%, followed by Yahoo with 1%.
Google is therefore the search engine that you must focus your SEO and PPC efforts on. Make sure you are following best practices for search marketing on Google.
I cannot stress enough how vital it is to have a strong presence on Google. Recent research has found that search engines are the number one main channel for online brand research in the UK, as well as the number one source of brand discovery.
However, be aware that 28% of British internet users use an ad blocking tool. This means you do not want to rely completely on search advertising. Your organic SEO and content marketing efforts must also be given the attention they deserve in order to reach those internet users who have turned on an ad blocker.
Check that your geotargeting is correctly set up for your UK website. This will vary depending on how you structure your domains, but you are likely to need hreflang tags correctly implemented to ensure that your UK-targeted pages rank above your other country pages.
You should also check your website speed from within the UK, and if the loading speed is slow, consider hosting your website on a local server. You do not want to go through all the effort of creating, designing and localizing your website, just to have those efforts undone by poor loading speeds and high bounce rates as a result.
If you sell products on your website, make sure to display prices in the local currency, use local weights and measurements, and accept local online payment methods.
And finally, make a point of creating and displaying local content, telling stories that are relatable and relevant to the local audience. This also includes the visuals and photos that accompany your written content.
Social media is very popular in the UK. Research by Meltwater and We Are Social found that among its sample of British internet users, 85% were social media users. The average internet user spends 1 hour and 49 minutes on social media every day and uses an average of 6 social platforms every month. The most common reasons for using social media are keeping in touch with friends and family, filling spare time and reading news articles.
As you can see in the graph below, WhatsApp is the most popular social platform in the UK, followed by Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Instagram. All these platforms are used by more than half of all British internet users every month.
With 85% of British internet users being social media users, it is vitally important for brands to have a social media presence when targeting the UK. You should use social media to communicate and engage with potential customers, and it is also a useful way of understanding and getting to know your target audience. You should aim to create content that triggers emotions in users by offering real value or a real connection with your brand. Although you will obviously need to post localized content on your British social media accounts that caters to your audience in the country, your social media strategy will not differ significantly for the UK compared to how you do it for other countries. For example:
Of course, you do not need to be on every social media platform; you only need to be where your audience is. Research your industry and your audience before entering the market, see what platforms they prefer and prioritize them. Bear in mind that your audience will most likely be present on multiple platforms and interact with you across all of them, but they will not want to see the same things from you on all of them. Your content strategy should take into consideration both who your audience is and where they are interacting with you.
When entering any new market, it is very important to be aware of the local culture and to adapt your marketing collateral appropriately. One way you can examine the British culture is through the lens of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
The UK has a fairly low score of 35 for power distance. This means that:
The UK has a fairly high score of 76 for individualism. This means that:
The UK has a fairly high score of 66 for motivation towards achievement and success. This means that:
The UK has a fairly low score of 35 for uncertainty avoidance. This means that:
The UK has a fairly high score of 60 for long-term orientation. This means that:
The UK has a fairly high score of 69 for indulgence. This means that:
You should also know that the UK has a socially liberal culture, with equality being enshrined in law by the Equality Act 2010, which makes it illegal to discriminate against anyone based on their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Free healthcare is available to everyone as the country has the National Health Service (NHS), same-sex marriage is legal, and the death penalty was abolished for all crimes in 1998. Furthermore, (and very differently to the US), the UK has a secular culture, with religion not playing a particularly prominent role in society. In the 2021 census, less than half the population said they identified as Christian.
There are certain superstitions that exist in British culture, although most people do not take these too seriously. One superstition that is relevant for marketers is the belief that the number 13, and the date Friday the 13th, are unlucky. If you are promoting something in the horror/spooky genre, such as a horror film, horror book or spooky rollercoaster, you may actually find it successful to do releases on the date Friday the 13th, as this will tap into the superstition and be memorable. If you are not in the “horror” industry, however, it is probably best to avoid the number 13 and the date Friday the 13th in your marketing efforts!
There are multiple languages that are native to the UK. The table below lists the most commonly spoken native British languages, along with data on the number of speakers, based on the most recent UK census:
As you can see, the most commonly spoken language by far is English, and therefore it is English that you should use when targeting the UK. English is a West Germanic language. It uses the Latin alphabet, is written from left to right and consists of 26 letters. Unlike many other Germanic languages, it does not have grammatical genders.
Be aware that the variety of English you should use when targeting the UK is British English, which differs from other variations of English such as American English in terms of terminology, spelling, grammar and punctuation. This means that if you have content on your American website, for example, you cannot just copy this over to your British website; you must make sure to localize it for the UK first. Let’s delve a bit deeper into what makes British English and American English so different.
There are literally hundreds of terminology differences between British English and American English. The table below lists just a small handful of them:
There are also some major spelling rule differences between British English and American English words:
There are also some grammatical differences between British English and American English:
There are also some punctuation and formatting differences between British English and American English:
When targeting the UK, make sure you adhere to British English terminology, spelling, grammar and punctuation. Using American English (for example if you decided to just re-use the copy on your US website) to target a British audience will give the impression that you do not really care about the UK market, since you cannot be bothered to communicate with them in their language, which would give a poor impression of your brand. It could also lead to confusion and misunderstandings, in the case of false friends or dates such as 01/02/2026, which could mean 1 February or 2 January, depending on the variety of English being used.
Due to the significant differences between British English and American English, translation, localization and copywriting should always be done by a professional native British English speaker. Only a native will have a proper grasp of the local linguistic and cultural nuances and be able to create content that will truly resonate with your local British audience.
Be aware that people in the UK will think poorly of you if you have mistakes in your written content. If your content contains linguistic errors or if a translation does not make sense, your brand image could be damaged, with the poor-quality content gaining you a reputation as an unprofessional company.
If you are translating your content from another language into British English, be aware that your content may end up being a different length. Therefore, be prepared to provide guidance on character limits and the space available for content on your webpage, and be conscious of how this can have an impact on things like your calls-to-action and product descriptions.
Speaking of calls-to-action, these should be short, clear, and straight to the point. Calls-to-action like “download” and “buy now” work well in the UK. It is important that you do not directly translate your calls-to-action from another language into English, as a direct translation is unlikely to resonate and work well. Instead, do some research to find out which calls-to-action are commonly used online in the UK in your sector.
It is also important to think about your keywords. Keywords should never be translated; instead, you should always conduct local keyword research. This is because a translation will probably not produce keywords that have the most impact in the target market. Only fresh keyword research conducted by a native speaker will reveal the best keywords to target.
E-commerce is popular, although it still has growth ahead of it. 64% of Brits have made a purchase using a mobile phone or the internet in the past year. Online B2C sales are worth the equivalent of around USD 132 billion annually.
According to a study by Meltwater and We Are Social, the e-commerce categories which saw the highest levels of growth in 2023 compared to 2022 were: furniture with a year-on-year growth rate of 24%; household essentials (spending up 14%); fashion (up 14%); food (up 10%); luxury goods (up 9%); electronics (up 8%); beverages (up 6%); eyewear (up 4%); tobacco products (up 4%); and beauty and personal care (up 3%). All other categories saw a decrease in spending. DIY and hardware saw the biggest reduction in spending, with spending falling 9% compared to the previous year, followed by physical media (spending down 5%), over-the-counter pharmaceuticals (down 2%) and toys and hobby (down 1%).
The main drivers of online purchases are key indicators as to what British users value most when making their online purchasing decisions, giving you an opportunity to understand what is best to highlight in your marketing collateral and calls-to-action, so that you can convert leads into customers. Free delivery is the top driver of online purchasing behavior in the UK, with 66% saying this would encourage them to buy. This is followed by coupons and discounts with 43% and an easy returns policy with 42%.
Looking at e-commerce payment methods, digital wallets are the most popular option, accounting for 38% of online purchases. Credit cards come in second place, accounting for 24% of online purchases, followed by debit cards (22%), account-to-account payments (7%) and buy now pay later (7%). It would therefore be wise to offer multiple payment options when targeting the British market – particularly digital wallets, credit cards and debit cards – since all these payment methods have significant popularity.
Another important thing to remember is to ensure you are selling in the correct currency: British pounds (£ or GBP). This may sound obvious, but you would be surprised how many businesses see poor results simply because they have neglected to localize the currency on their website.
Alternatively, you could sell your products on an e-commerce marketplace. The most popular e-commerce marketplace in the UK is Amazon. eBay comes in second place, followed by Argos, Etsy and hotukdeals. If you want to sell your items on an online marketplace, Amazon should therefore be your first choice when targeting the UK.
Once you have sold a product, you still need to get it to the customer. The most popular e-commerce delivery method in the UK is home delivery, so it would be wise to offer this delivery option (if applicable). Be aware that British consumers expect orders to be delivered quickly, with many expecting next-day delivery as standard.
Be aware that there are seasonal fluctuations in the British e-commerce calendar, when people are more likely to buy. The busiest time of the year in terms of online spending is seen in November and December, in the run-up to Christmas. In recent years, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have also been adopted in the UK. Make sure you tap into this seasonality when selling your products and coming up with your marketing materials.
The British market is a large and lucrative economy that is digitally mature, with high levels of internet penetration, social media usage and e-commerce uptake. It is a strong and established market that rightfully draws the attention of many global brands. I hope this guide has given you a good starting point from which to build your British success story. If you localize your strategy effectively, your digital marketing and business expansion efforts in the country have the potential to go far. Good luck!
Want to discuss how we can help your brand succeed in the UK? Let’s talk!
Written by Elin Box – Content Marketing Manager at TransPerfect Digital.
