Online sales increased another 19% in January as the internet
continues to encroach on the high street's traditional turf.
January was a surprisingly upbeat month for retailers in general
with overall like-for-like sales increasing by 1.1%, according to
figures released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) today.
Internet shopping grew less than it did in
December, when Christmas shoppers stayed indoors and boosted
growth by a massive 30%.
The
trend is becoming increasingly hard for retailers to ignore. It
is online retailers such as
Amazon that are bucking the gloomy economic trends, and
companies will need well-performing websites to keep up with the
changing habits of consumers.
But despite this
increasing reliance, the medium is still in its infancy. Online
shopping for non-food goods still accounts for only 4% of retail
sales.
Shoppers in January particularly took advantage of online
clearance sales which they were able to research and order from
their own homes, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said. This was
especially useful for those put off by the snowy weather.
Sharon Hardiman, head of non-store retailing at the BRC, said of
the growth, "Some was due to the various promotions and clearance
sales. Non-food sales in-store were down on last year in contrast
to the strong growth among the much smaller proportion of non-food
sales that happen online."