Internet sales doubled

2003 saw the value of internet sales more than double to GBP39.5 billion, according to the Office of the National Statistics UK. The e-commerce survey reflected trading across the board on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), in all sectors of the economy, and by all business sizes.

Non-internet sales, suchas Electronic Data Interchange, email, PC based fax and automated phone entry also rose, but not as drastically, by 15% from GBP170.8 billion to GBP195.6 billion. Internet purchases rose by 113% in 2003, from GBP18.7 billion to GBP39.9 billion. In October E-Bay's British and American sites were the most visited retail sites, followed by the media internet retailer Amazon. Tesco, Argos and Next also featured in the top 10 list. As the biggest online grocer, Tesco recieves 120,000 online orders a week.