Good news for the online retailers

Online sales grew by 30 per cent in December, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), despite the fact that store sales in December were the worst in the BRC's survey history. December 2008 saw UK retail sales values falling by 3.3 per cent on a like-for-like basis and by 1.4 per cent on a total basis, says the BRC, and by both measures this was the worst December since the survey began 14 years ago. But for online and multichannel retailers, the BRC statistics are hugely encouraging. In November 2008, the BRC recorded an increase in non-food non-store sales of only 16.6 per cent and there were concerns that December would see only a similar rise. The news that December's non-food non-store sales were up 30 per cent on a year ago is a definite boost. The BRC remains determinedly gloomy, though. "While this is a fast-growing sector, it still represents too small a part of total spending to compensate the poor performance of retailing overall," says Sharon Hardiman, BRC's head of non-store retailing. "The sharp contrast between December's strong non-store sales growth and the previous month indicates customers are increasingly confident with leaving internet shopping until nearer Christmas."