UK e-retail up 50 per cent in December

Online shopping in the UK rose by 50 per cent in the 10 weeks before Christmas 2005, according to monitoring organisation Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG).

Shoppers spent nearly £5bn online over the period, up from £3.3bn in 2004. Sales were at their highest in the week beginning 5 December when £653m was spent online.

Jo Tucker, managing director at IMRG, said: "Consumers have spoken. They want the convenience and choice that online shopping provides. Many just don't have time to trudge the streets hoping that goods are in stock."

The UK public spent £19.2bn on goods and services online in 2005, 32 per cent more than in 2004. Some 24 million UK consumers shopped online in 2005, spending an average of £816 during the year and £208 in the run-up to Christmas.

Year-on-year growth rates accelerated strongly throughout the year, tripling from the year low of 13 per cent growth in February, to almost 50 per cent at Christmas, peaking at 48.5 per cent in November and 47.4 per cent in December.

However, IMRG chief executive James Roper pointed out that a surprising number of goods are still unavailable or hard to find or online.

"Leading retailers often make only a small proportion of their total inventory available online, and many do not bother with spares at all. So huge growth potential remains for the merchants who plug these holes," he said.

IMRG forecasted that UK e-retail will grow 36 per cent in 2006, and that sales will reach £26bn for the year. The group also predicted that shoppers will each spend on average more than £1,000 for the first time in 2006.