Massive rise in internet shopping at Christmas

Online shopping came of age at Christmas with Britons spending £949m via the Web in three weeks. Retailers were flooded with orders for large items such as DVD players, home cinemas and clothes, as well as smaller gifts such as CDs and books.

Figures released by the retail consultancy IMRG shows that internet shopping grew 19 times faster than overall retail sales and has nearly doubled over the previous year. By contrast, high street sales grew by only 4.1 per cent. The trend has also proved a boon for Royal Mail, which delivered 20 million items in the run-up to Christmas – a rise of 30 per cent on 2001.

Overall, online sales accounted for 4 per cent of all retail sales for Christmas. This will rise further as more people acquire broadband connections in coming years, the IMRG's chief executive, James Roper, said.

The total number of online shoppers has risen by 40 per cent, from 7 to 10 million. They also buy more frequently online – 4.2 times each month, compared with 3.7 in 2001.

The problem of buyers missing deliveries is being solved by Royal Mail's "decide and deliver" system, by which people choose alternative delivery addresses where packages can be picked up later.