Boots is outsourcing a portion of its web site to make sure it can handle the Christmas rush, amid predictions of massive growth in online retailing.

Only customers buying from Boots.com will stay on the main site, and those just browsing will be redirected to pages hosted by Akamai.

The split infrastructure will be crucial to meeting demand in peak periods, said business systems manager Russell Harte.

‘We had several problems in the run-up to Christmas last year and do not want to inconvenience customers with long transaction times,’ he said.

In the past, spikes in web traffic have been managed by a centralised content delivery network. But online business is expected to grow to a level that is beyond the system’s capacity within just a few years, said Harte.

The online retail sector is expected to almost double to £78bn by 2010, according to industry group IMRG.