16 January 2007, 16:14 PM
  • With many consumers moving away from the high street and surfing the internet for their Christmas shopping, the web has out-performed all previous expectations.

The global e-retailing body, Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), forecasted that UK online spending in December would total £3.2bn, but IMRG now expects that it could be as high as £3.7bn, a 45% increase compared with December 2005.

IMRG initially estimated that the total spend for the ten-week period leading up to Christmas would be £7bn, but has revised that estimate upwards to £7.5bn. It seems that fears over internet security have not affected consumer confidence to go shopping online.

Interestingly, IMRG believe there are “huge gaps” in the marketplace, especially for luxury, high-end and specialist products.