Online sales grew 30% over Christmas, despite it being the
"worst December in history" for many retailers.
While overall UK retail sales fell 3.3% on a like-for-like
basis, the British Retail Consortium reported that online sales
grew by a third compared to December 2007.
Online sales grew by 16.6% year on year in
November, reflecting the increasing trust consumers have in
websites. December's growth was stronger than November, the BRC
said, because, it said, "People were more confident about online
shopping and several stores had later last order dates than last
Christmas".
But despite the growth of online shopping, retail experts still
branded the figures "dreadful". The
food sector was the only one to show growth, and even this was
at the slowest rate since March.
Stephen Robertson, director general at the BRC, said, "Non-food
retailers had a torrid December despite a blizzard of promotions
and deals, which would have hit margins. Many hard-pressed
customers could not be seduced into spending."
Sharon Hardiman, head of non-store retailing at the BRC, said
online shopping's strong performance was not enough to make up for
the rest of the retail sector.
She said, "While this is a fast-growing sector, it still
represents too small a part of total spending to compensate for the
poor performance of retailing overall."