Twenty-four million British shoppers will spend £5 billion
online this Christmas, an average of £208 each, according to the
Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), which predicts a bumper
holiday period for online retailers.
Britain’s e-commerce trade body reports that online shopping is
growing 130 times faster than high street sales, with figures from
the Office for National Statistics showing that internet shopping's
rate of increase accelerated to 40% year-on-year in October, while
total retail sales for the month were up just 0.3 on October
2004.
In October, reports IMRG, clothing sales grew 27% on the year,
electricals 28%, and beer, wine and spirits sales grew by 50%. The
trade association estimates that 24 million people spent £1,786
million online in October, an average of £74 each.
All in all, IMRG says that internet sales have grown 2,000% in
five years.
