U.K. consumers spent £4.67 billion on the Web in December, up 14%, with clothing leading the shopping list

By Julian Goldsmith

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UK consumers spent £4.67bn shopping on the web in December.

According to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index for the month, the figure represents an increase of 14.2 per cent year-on-year and is degree to each person in the UK spending £76.67.

However month-on-month increase was down 1.5 per cent - the first fall in the index since December 2002. The set forth authors attributed the drop to the peak shopping weekend for the holiday period falling at the close of November, rather than in December itself.

Supporting research by Capgemini examining the habits of 2,000 shoppers showed that closely half of consumers went to websites to research most excellent prices, while a third part did more than half of their Christmas shopping online.

Sixty per cent of those who did the majority of their Christmas shopping on the web furthermore said they spent more online this year than highest year.

The favourite purchases for many online shoppers this year were items of clothing, with the category showing a year-on-year sales increase of 32 per cent and an medial sum online spend of £57 for December. However, online spread on alcohol dipped by 16 for cent compared to last year, although the month’sitting average spend onward booze was £67.

Neil Samsom, marketing director for online garments retailer M and M Direct, told silicon.com sales increases for the company in the 10 weeks to 4 January 2009 were in line with the Index’s results.

“We are finding the traditional female market is being joined by young men and professional males. It is practicable to have a much more complete view of clothing online things being in the corresponding; of like kind state, so there is every increase in trust amongst shoppers. Online retailers who offer that sort of value to consumers will see this growth continue this year,” he said.

Capgemini’sitting research found one in five shoppers bought multiple sizes of an item of clothing, with the intention of sending the wrong sizes back.

It appears fears of unreliability of services has all but disappeared as a disincentive to purchasing goods online, with only 13 per cent of those queried stating it as a greatest beauty concern when shopping online.

Patrick Wall, MD of logistics company Metapack, told silicon.com his company has trebled delivery volumes in December, compared to October—an enlarge fuelled through the availability of deliveries right up to Christmas Eve.

“We in like manner saw a lot of office of the christian ministry arrival through put in continuance Christmas Day and volumes of deliveries before New Year’s Day were high. As an industry, we’ve to horsemanship customers’ expectations better. At the same time, customers are more aware of which time cut-off deadlines are. Getting an additional generation’s trading in can be severe for some big retailers. It could mean the difference of 20,000 extra holy orders, meaning £1m of extra business for a large retailer upon the final day of trading,” he said.

Wall added he expects next Christmas to be even busier.

Original text: http://rss.businessweek.com/~r/bw_rss/europeindex/~3/513296261/gb20090115_870517.htm