Internet drives high street recovery

Online sales at internet retailers up 16 per cent

Online sales have helped to boost retail spending

Consumers continued to turn to online shopping in big numbers, helping underpin a recovery in high street retail spending, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Sales at internet retailers jumped by 2.6 per cent in May, 16 per cent higher than the same time last year, despite the latest rise in interest rates.

Overall retail sales rose by just 0.4 per cent, although this was still up on the 0.1 per cent fall last month.

Online sales are becoming increasingly important to traditional high street retailers, with revenue from the internet expected to double to more than £78bn by 2010.

Tesco is already processing more than £1bn in grocery sales online, while other retailers such as John Lewis and Sainsbury’s recently announced plans to increase their focus on online shopping.