Online Spending on the Up

January 2008 was the best ever January for online spending in the UK, according to the industry body Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG).

The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index indicates figures were up 75% as £4.5 billion was spent via the web, which equates to every person in the UK spending £74 each.

‘The index shows that January sales are as large a phenomenon online as they are on the high street, with the overall online market continuing to show strong growth,’ said Anthoula Madden, vice-president at Capgemini UK's consumer products and retail team. However, sales still fell short of the record figures set in the pre-Christmas rush in December.

Electrical goods saw the biggest increase in online purchasing, by 38%, and clothing also saw a significant bump, by 32%. There was an 18% rise in healthy and beauty products sold online and sales of beers, wines and spirits were also up by 9.8%

Madden accredits the rise in popularity of these products to consumers treating themselves to those sought-after items that never arrived at Christmas. The IMRG suspects the desire to avoid manic January high streets as an explanation for the increase in online shopping.

Figures from the IMRG also show that the full year’s online sales were up by 54% in 2007 as £46.6 billion was spent over the internet compared to £30.2 billion spent in 2008.

Despite this increase in internet spending, research shows that market tends to be dominated by the big players. A recent survey by e-commerce specialists Avail Intelligence found that 94% of online consumers only purchase from a handful of sites which they trust. Although almost 50% of internet shoppers browse between 10 and 20 sites before making a purchase, more than 75% will regularly buy from just five or less trusted sites.