Portsmouth named one of the UK’s top online shopping cities

Whether it’s grabbing a last-minute outfit, topping up the weekly food shop, or hunting down a bargain during a coffee break, online shopping has become second nature for millions of Brits. Some cities are far more addicted to the click than others, and the difference might surprise you.

Shopping online has obvious perks – it saves time, offers access to a huge range of products, and makes it easy to compare prices without leaving the sofa. But it’s not just convenience that drives it. People enjoy discovering new brands, finding deals, and having their shopping delivered straight to their door. From students and busy professionals to families juggling work and home life, the habit is spreading fast across the country.

A new study by fulfilment.com has analysed Google search data to find out which UK cities are most keen on shopping online. Researchers looked at 20 major retail and e-commerce search terms, covering household names and popular apps, then adjusted the figures to reflect population size so every city was judged fairly.

Portsmouth ranks fourteenth in the UK, with 19,853 online shopping searches per 10,000 residents. Residents are actively using online shopping for a wide range of products, from fashion and electronics to groceries and resale apps. People in Portsmouth aren’t just browsing casually – they are comparing brands, checking deals, and keeping up with the latest online offers.

Portsmouth’s engagement is notable compared with larger cities. London records 18,575 searches per 10,000 residents, and Manchester sits at 5,650. This shows that Portsmouth shoppers are more active online than residents in many of the country’s biggest urban centres, reveal how e-commerce has become a routine part of life for local people.

Rounding out the top cities alongside Portsmouth is Walsall, with 19,345 searches per 10,000 residents.

Across the top ten cities, common searches included “Amazon”, “Shein”, “Argos”, “buy online”, “online sale” and “discount code”, showing that residents are actively hunting for deals as well as browsing for specific products. Oxford shoppers are clearly part of the UK’s online shopping boom, blending convenience, curiosity, and deal-seeking like many of the leading cities in the country.

List of the UK cities where residents are most interested in online shopping:

Rank	Area	Online Shopping Search Interest per 10,000 people
1	Bolton	38,895
2	Plymouth	38,882
3	Leeds	34,224
4	Stockport	28,944
5	Peterborough	25,177
6	Oxford	23,954
7	Huddersfield	23,370
8	Wolverhampton	22,766
9	Dundee	22,501
10	Poole	21,869
11	Edinburgh	20,867
12	Bristol	20,741
13	Norwich	20,143
14	Portsmouth	19,853
15	Walsall	19,345
16	Ipswich	18,812
17	Warrington	18,740
18	London	18,575
19	Swindon	17,849
20	Aberdeen	17,533
21	Kingston upon Hull	16,785
22	Derby	16,549
23	Telford	16,450
24	Coventry	16,279
25	Swansea	15,093
26	Croydon	14,298
27	Stoke-on-Trent	14,253
28	Blackpool	13,537
29	Reading	13,183
30	Luton	12,836
31	Doncaster	12,744
32	Burnley	12,633
33	Blackburn	12,335
34	Southend-on-Sea	12,311
35	Glasgow	12,253
36	Gloucester	12,222
37	Birmingham	12,171
38	Bradford	11,996
39	Basildon	11,819
40	Mansfield	11,637
41	Northampton	11,623
42	Dudley	11,459
43	Cardiff	11,039
44	Newcastle upon Tyne	10,524
45	Sutton	10,516
46	Slough	10,344
47	Liverpool	10,133
48	Crawley	9,705
49	Preston	9,462
50	Sheffield	9,418
51	Middlesbrough	9,177
52	Bournemouth	9,108
53	Belfast	8,475
54	Cambridge	8,472
55	Milton Keynes	7,930
56	Wigan	7,607
57	Leicester	7,567
58	Birkenhead	7,104
59	York	7,051
60	Manchester	5,650
61	Sunderland	5,343
62	Brighton	4,901
63	Southampton	3,153
64	Nottingham	2,719
65	Newport	2,402