Internet Shopping 'Up by 30%'

A record amount was spent online last month, figures from the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) and consultancy Capgemini have shown.

According to the research, sales were up 30 per cent on May 2007 to hit £4.5 billion - a statistic which provides further evidence for the increasingly central part customer broadband connections play in the retail sector, and is especially impressive considering the fact that the credit crunch has hit consumer spending elsewhere.

Summer sales were found by Capgemini to have boosted transactions of clothes and accessories by four per cent. Online shoe sales, perhaps driven up by the publicity surrounding the Sex and the City movie, were also up by 17 per cent.

Elsewhere, broadband electronic goods sales dropped by ten per cent and alcohol spending fell by 11 per cent: Capgemini speculated that this could have been caused by the failure of a UK team to qualify for the Euro 2008 football tournament.

Anthoula Madden, vice president at the consultancy, commented: "Although online sales across the board are more robust than on the high street, falling property prices and persistent news of a credit crunch are causing UK shoppers to become more careful with their disposable income. [However] the premiere of Sex and the City provided an excellent platform for e-retailers to capitalise on consumer spending."