Online spending is to reach a total of £8.9 billion this Christmas, representing 20p in every £1 spent, and a 24% increase on previous years, according to research carried out by the Centre for Retail Research for Kelkoo.

‘Christmas 2009: Blue Skies or Storm Clouds’ found that, in total, sales in the six weeks to Christmas are expected to reach £44.7 billion this year and account for 18.5% of total annual retail spending.

“Based on historic data trends, if we assume that online will continue to grow at a rate of 24% year-on-year and all retailing at 6% annually, then Kelkoo projects that the UK could have its first ‘Online Christmas’, where 50p in every £1 is spent online, as soon as 2015 — equating to £32.6 billion in online sales and accounting for 50% of all retail spending,” say the researchers.

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