Online shopping booms in UK

Online shopping in the UK is growing fast despite the collapse of the dot-com bubble, according to research published by retail consultancy Verdict.

Verdict said the online retail market, excluding travel and tickets, grew 142 percent in 2001 to £3.26 billion, though this still only represents 1.5 percent of all retail sales.

The increasing number of female online shoppers helped boost sales through the Internet and older shoppers aged 55 years plus, otherwise known as "silver surfers", were spending more than their youthful counterparts.

Older shoppers make up 15 percent of customers, the same proportion as 15-24 year olds, but spend twice as much.In total the number of online shoppers is estimated to have doubled in the last year to 8.2 million customers, meaning that almost one in six adults is now buying on the Internet.The report found that the most popular shopping sites were for grocery, clothing and footwear.

This Christmas should see a boom in sales with 815 million pounds being spent in November and December, up 147 percent on last year. Grocery sites are expected to be particularly busy, the researchers said.