Small online retailers enjoyed a bumper Christmas last year as shoppers turned to the internet for festive gift buying, according to new data.
A poll of SME web stores by ecommerce specialists Actinic showed an 80% growth in November and December 2005 takings compared to the same period the year before.
The overall volume of web orders rose even more dramatically over 2004, by an average 110%.
Many firms with both an internet and high street presence reported a greater increase in their online sales.
Harry Granz, from The Garden Pharmacy, said: "The increase in ecommerce was 32% compared with a bricks and mortar increase of 5%."
Internet analysts had predicted online shopping sales growth would outweigh that on the high street so Phil Rothwell, managing director of Actinic, said he was not surprised by the figures.
"The high level of growth in online consumer demand has been sustained and looks like continuing for some time," he said.
"Those investing today are seeing greater returns because ecommerce penetration remains quite low."
