Retailers on the net have reasons to celebrate with news that sales increased by 60 per cent over the festive period, according to a new poll.
The poll, by business software firm Actinic, shows that, despite many high street stores bracing themselves for news of poor Christmas sales, it seems their online counterparts are reaping the benefits.
The figures were collected during November and December, with the sites polled ranging from small businesses starting up in 2004 to maturer ecommerce sites.
Many sites were overwhelmed by the increase in traffic as the average number of orders reached 1570.
Due to the rapid increase of ecommerce, many firms have also witnessed a decline in offline sales as a result.
Julian McIntosh of travel accessory firm safariquip.co.uk, said: “Web sales are expected to overtake over-the counter retail sales early in 2005. The rate of web growth is making us consider ecommerce as a safer and less costly alternative to bricks and mortar growth in new branches.”
Many businesses also reported an average increase of 80 per cent in online turnover, highlighting the UK as a champion of internet retail.
Chris Barling, Actinic CEO, said: “We may be seeing the first signs that the internet is impacting on not only high street sales, but also the inclination of retailers to expand their real world outlets. Each year adds to the feeling that the original dot-com boom hype wasn’t so much wrong as too early.”
