Internet shines as high street sales plummet

Consumers have become more confident in online payments

Internet sales in December were 30 per cent higher than the previous year even as retailers saw slow high street growth and an overall "dreadful" performance, according to research by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and consultancy KPMG.

UK retail sales fell 3.3 per cent on a like-for-like basis, and 1.4 per cent on a total basis, from December 2007, which the report described as "the worst December since the survey began 14 years ago and, barring Easter distortions, the worst performance of any month in that time".

But online shopping growth for non-food products, which saw a 9.5 per cent gain in November, were boosted by increased consumer confidence in buying via the web and the fact that several stores had later last-order dates than last Christmas, said the BRC.

The BRC also cited appreciation of the convenience of shopping online and trusting e-payment security as key drivers for growth.

Online sales growth continued to outpace those in stores, but the web still accounts for only about four per cent of total retail sales.

"The sharp contrast between December's strong non-store sales growth and the previous month indicates that customers are increasingly confident with leaving internet shopping until nearer Christmas," said Sharon Hardiman, head of non-store retailing at the BRC.

"While this is a fast-growing sector, it still represents too small a part of total spending to compensate for the poor performance of retailing overall."

The news of internet sales growth follows the latest figures from the Interactive Media in Retail Group, which showed that 3.8 million people bought goods online on Christmas day and spent a total of £102m.

Separate research from YouGov found that 14 per cent of shoppers waited until after Christmas to buy presents.