December 17 2006

Internet shopping tops £3bn in November

UK internet retail sales reached £3 billion in a month for the first time in November, reports the IMRG, "as Britain's 25 million online shoppers reaffirm their affinity with online Christmas shopping."

IMRG estimates that £3,260,000,000 was spent online during the month, at an average rate of £4.57 million per hour, approximately 45% (44.7%) more than in the same period last year.

November's internet sales were more than half a billion pounds higher than those of the previous month, when the IMRG Index recorded a value of £2,729 million for October. This increase was ten times the average monthly increase of £50 million recorded during the first ten months of 2006. During the same 10-month period two years ago, in 2004, the average growth rate was just £16 million per month.

IMRG's CEO, James Roper, commented, "Internet shopping is hugely attractive for consumers, especially at Christmas, as these figures show. The November values are in line with our earlier forecasts and confirm that we are likely to see a total of £7 billion being spent online by UK shoppers in the 10-week run-up to Christmas. Though no longer a surprise, growth of this magnitude is nevertheless breathtaking. In 2000, the first year in which the IMRG collected hard online sales data, Christmas trading was worth well under half a billion pounds, and we thought that was huge at the time. Now we can see that the e-retail market is just getting into its stride, with large potential for long-term growth."

Emma Herrod