Brits Are Europe’s Top Web Spenders

British shoppers splashed almost a third of the cash spent on the internet in Europe last year, making them comfortably the continent’s top online spenders.

Online sales in UK defied the recession with double-digit growth last year

Consumers in the UK spent an estimated £38bn online in 2009, accounting for 30% of total European internet sales, according to price comparison site Kelkoo.

Germany and France occupied the second and third positions, with the trio of West European nations together making up 70% of the market.

The average individual online spend by Britons was £1,102, while UK shoppers also bought the highest number of items over the internet, at an average of £37 each.

The research, carried out for the Centre for Retail Research, also confirmed the resilience of the internet during a tough year for the UK high street.

Online sales grew by 12% in during 2009, with purchases made over the internet making up 9.5% of all retail sales in the UK.

And the report predicted the UK market will grow 12.4% to £42.7bn this year.

But 2010 is expected to see even greater growth across Europe as a whole, with the market expected to expand by 19.6%.

Bruce Fair, managing director of Kelkoo UK, said: “While the retail industry is showing slow signs of recovery, the online shopping sector bucked the trend in 2009 delivering double-digit growth, and is expected to continue to perform strongly in 2010.”

Ed Merrison, Sky News Online

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