Online Shopping Sees Big Gains In UK, Research Firm Says

Consumers in the United Kingdom spent £14.7 billion (US$28.7 billion or 18.6 billion euros) on retail goods bought online in 2007, a 35% increase from the previous year, according to Verdict Research, a UK-based research firm. Online retail spending "is growing at the fastest rate" in six years, the group says in a statement released this week. Online retail spending could reach £44.9 billion by 2012 and account for nearly 14% of all spending on the Internet, the group estimates. Some 22.6 million consumers in the UK shopped online in 2007, nearly 25% more than in 2006. Those consumers shopped online an average of 19.9 times in 2007, up from 17.2 in the previous year. Verdict Research cited the spread of higher speed broadband connections and the convenience of Internet shopping as major factors for the growth.