IMRG's e-Retail Sales Index Report for November 2002 was based on sales of £218 million reported by 77 participating UK retailers, representing 22% of the estimated market.
The survey, carried out by Forrester Research, found that on-line sales in the UK have almost doubled (95%) over the past year. This growth of internet shopping is 15 times faster than that of general retail sales which has slowed to 6.1% annually, as estimated by the British Retail Consortium.
The survey also found that on-line shopping in the UK is growing three times faster than in the US, and represents a proportion of total retail sales that is three times greater than in the US.
US retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2002 were just over $11 billion and represented 1.3% of total US retail, according to figures from the US Department of Commerce.
This was an increase of 34.3% from the same period in 2001. UK e-retail, on the other hand, was worth £2 billion ($3.14 billion) during the same period in 2002, representing 4% of total UK retail, an increase of 114.5% since the third quarter of 2001.
According to the IMRG survey, all types and sizes of merchants are witnessing their trade moving to the internet. The participating retailers said that most on-line orders placed in November 2002 were Christmas presents.
Jaap Favier, Research Director of Forrester's European Research Centre said: "This high growth confirms that UK consumers at large are getting very confident with on-line purchasing. With the US market taking its toll from the economic slump, the UK consumer is on his/her way to become the world's largest spender on-line."
IMRG said that the sales record could be attributed to broadband's rapid take-up. Broadband, the group claims, makes on-line shopping a "hassle-free" experience, and enables consumers to visit retailers' web sites without "worrying about connection charges clocking up."