eBay's legions of small retailers are driving the online market's unprecedented sales growth this Christmas, according to new figures.
Sellers on the internet auction site are dominating the UK's online retail sector, claiming over a third of total visits to online shopping sites last week, data from online competiton experts Hitwise shows.
The website's traffic jumped 37% compared to the same week in 2004, and over the past 15 months eBay entrepreneurs have claimed nearly 6% of total online visits in the UK.
Christmas sales in general peaked during the week ending 3 December, according to the Hitwise's estimates, and e-retailers took just a fraction under 15% of the total market share.
The figure marks 13% growth over the same week last year and points to the online sector's sterling growth in 2005.
"Now that we have full month data available for November, we see the sector has actually grown 26% in this period alone, cementing a fantastic couple of months for online retail in the UK," said Heather Hopkins, director of research for Hitwise UK.
The most popular searches sending consumers to eBay sellers over the last month were "xbox 360" and "psp".
Shortages of the Xbox 360 on store shelves have led to bidding wars in eBay auctions. The auction site reports that hundreds are appearing in its listings, often selling at more than double the suggested retail price.
Earlier in the year, eBay issued a list of what it forecast to be the top-selling items this Christmas, among them the Xbox 360, which it said could net sellers significant extra income during this expensive time of year.