Record Christmas for e-tailers as consumer spend soars

by Philip Smith, Revolution UK 09-Feb-04

Online retail in the UK had a record festive season as consumer spend rose by more than 70 per cent to £1.3 billion in December, according to IMRG (the Interactive Media in Retail Group).

Combined internet sales for November and December 2003 were £2.5bn, which represents some seven per cent of all retail sales in the country.

James Roper, chief executive of IMRG, hailed the figures as a turning point for e-tail: "I'm in a state of shock in a way because of the realisation that the moment we've promised for all of these years is here. The scale of growth was one surprise. Retail on the high street is clearly having a tough time, but the people with money to spend were the people working themselves to death and had computers on their desks," he added.

Christmas' online success stories, cited by Roper, include the web sites of high-street giants Argos, Tesco, Comet and Littlewoods.

Growth was experienced by a broad range of sectors, but a highlight was the increase in sales of electrical consumer goods, which were up 95 per cent in December, compared to the same month in 2002.

Consumers appeared to be more confident in the reliability of delivery advice and services, Roper noted. Gift sales remained strong until 22 December.

Hugo Bottellier, vice-president of Visa EU, commented: "These figures demonstrate that people are becoming as comfortable online as they are in the high street."

More than 80 e-tailers contribute to the IMRG Index, including Arcadia Group, Debenhams, lastminute.com and John Lewis.

Roper added: "The hassle factor you can shift by going online is incredible.

You only have to see a mother with four kids at a supermarket checkout to see that. And Christmas makes that strain even worse."

Shopping p27.