Online Shopping Saves Money

Research by UK online centres shows that a family could easily save more than £200 on popular Christmas presents by shopping on the internet. Incredible bargains, such as the Matrix Reloaded at a third of the price, are driving people to find this year's gifts online.

Colin Middlemiss, Marketing Manager for UK online centres, said: "If the nineteen million adults who have never been on the internet all reduced their shopping total by £200, £3.8 billion would be saved. UK online centres offers Internet access for all, but especially for those who don't have a computer at home or work. Allowing you to save money while taking away from the stress of fighting through the busy shops."

As you might have guessed with Christmas just around the corner, traffic on shopping sites has already reached its highest point of the year. Even as far back as September the retail sector was accounting for 8.06% of all online traffic, according to Hitwise, who said this represented a 44% increase in market share to shopping sites compared to last year.

So Britain is keener than ever to beat those Christmas queues by shopping online, but what categories are proving most popular to the e-consumer? Well while Apparel & Accessories and Flowers and Gifts have seen the greatest increase in market share over the past 12 months, it is the grocery supermarket sites that continue to have the highest session duration. Tesco, for example averaging 21 minutes and 51 seconds, followed by Sainsburys just a few seconds behind, and then Waitrose. As far as individual products are concerned, however, fruit and veg are still a long way behind the internet's favourite "must-haves" - mobile phones and digital cameras.