The share of the UK's total retail market taken by online shopping has reached a record high of 9.6 per cent, which is more than three times higher than it was in 2007.
The figure was included in the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) monthly overview of retail sales, published yesterday.
Britons spent GBP539.4million on buying goods over the internet in September, the ONS found. At the same time last year, the figure was GBP415.9million, meaning that online sales have risen by 27.3 per cent in just 12 months.
Our embracing of online shopping is also good for the economy, the figures suggest. Economists had been expecting retail sales to be flat in September, but instead they registered a 0.6 per cent rise on the previous year.
And technology played a big part in that growth. Not only have online sales in general been booming, but people have been buying more laptop computers and computer games too.
Speaking to Sky News, economist Chris Williamson said, though, that all retailers were facing a “challenging lead up to Christmas”, against a background of rising unemployment, and the cost of living rising at its fastest rate for 20 years.
“The festive season may be one of the toughest we've seen in recent memory,” he added,
