2005 Strong year for online sales
24 March 2006
UK consumers bought £8.2bn ($14.3bn) of goods from websites last year - up 28.9% on 2004, according to market analysts Verdict. Shoppers spent an extra £1.8bn online last year compared with 2004.
A quarter of all UK shoppers now buys goods over the Internet, as the online shopping community grew by 25.5% to 14.6 million people between 2004 and 2005.
The surge in "e-retail" means online shopping is now winning its biggest-ever slice of the UK retail market with the Internet not only offering lower prices, but also allowing customers to shop at times convenient for them.
One of the biggest growth sectors in online shopping is among the over-55s, with numbers almost doubling to 2.7 million users between 2004 and 2005. And the amount spent by this sector rose 46.7% to an average £458 per head, while shoppers aged 35 to 44 are the biggest spenders, accounting for £3 in every £10 of retail sales.
The report comes a month after a report from e-commerce trade body IMRG said Internet shopping among UK consumers soared almost 50% in the 10 weeks before Christmas.
Over Christmas shoppers spent £4.98bn online during the period, compared with £3.3bn for the same time a year earlier.
Source: BBC/Verdict
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