Confidence in e-commerce sites 'increasing'

20th January 2009

UK consumers are becoming more confident in using e-commerce websites, helping to boost online spending in the process.

This is the suggestion of Richard Dodd of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), who explained that the growth of broadband penetration, coupled with the ability to make price comparisons easily online, has offered a significant boost to the e-commerce sector in recent times.

"It is good news for retailers as it opens up the whole world as a potential market," he added, explaining that small niche retailers particularly stand to benefit from the boom in internet shopping.

The comments came after figures from the BRC suggested that overall retail sales values fell by 3.3 per cent in December, while non-food non-store transactions - including those on the internet - increased by 30 per cent.

Meanwhile, statistics from IMRG showed that more than £4.67 billion was spent online by Britons in the same month.