Online shopping up again in January

09:58 13th February 2009

Online shopping continued to prove popular last month, according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Following a surge in December as customers turned to ecommerce to bag Christmas bargains away from the high street, the organisation has revealed a strong start of the year performance in the online shopping sector.

Non-store, non-food purchases, which includes those made online, were up by 19.2 per cent compared to January 2008, with the BRC pointing to sales and promotions as a reason for this growth.

Sharon Hardiman, head of non-store retailing at the BRC, explained that this level of growth is normal compared to the boom noted over Christmas.

"January saw a return to more normal sales growth for non-store retailing, after a sharp boost from Christmas," she said.

"Some of this growth was due to the various promotions and clearance sales. Non-food sales in store were down on last year in contrast to the strong growth amongst the much smaller proportion of non-food sales that happen online."

Online retail sales grew by 30 per cent in December. This was a marked contrast to the 3.3 per cent fall in like-for-like retail sales noted in the same month.