More and more people are using the internet to buy goods, analysts have suggested.
The amount of money spent on internet shopping continues to rise, new research from Verdict shows.
According to the retail analysts, the value of online goods sold last year increased to £14.7 billion: a 35 per cent rise over the 2006 total. As well as pushing the sector to a record high, the yearly growth rate for 2007 is also the fastest recorded for six years and is ten times that of the retail sector as a whole.
Verdict's results are all the more remarkable in the context of the general economic slowdown suffered by the UK due to last summer's credit crunch. Consumer spending as a whole has been hit in recent months, and inflation is also on the up - both factors which might be thought to have impacted on the online goods sector.
Senior retail analyst at the firm, Malcolm Pinkerton, said: "The internet is widely perceived as a cheaper and easier way of finding lower prices and bargains in most sectors.
"As the cost of broadband falls, consumers become accustomed to internet shopping and retailers continue to enhance their online propositions, the channel will find itself extremely well-placed to capitalise on the falling consumer confidence and lower levels of disposable income currently impacting the retail market."
The firm also predicted internet sales to reach an annual figure approaching £45 billion by 2012, which would represent almost one in six of total consumer expenditure.
