Internet shopping up to 15 per cent of total

Familiar names from the UK High Street are seeing increasing success in transferring their brands online, according to online traffic analyst Hitwise. Hitwise reports today that the online retail sector in the UK reached its highest ever share of Internet traffic at the weekend, surpassing 15 per cent of all online visits on Sunday November 28. At the same time last year, market share of visits to online shopping sites was just 12 per cent.

Despite reports that traditional high street retailers are facing a tougher Christmas this year, with many starting to slash prices well in advance of the post-Christmas sales, Hitwise data shows that the online arms of several high street retailers are booming.

This may show that many customers are merely opting out of the Christmas crowds, preferring the convenience of doing their Christmas shopping online. Hitwise data reveals that 50 per cent of the top twenty UK retail sites visited on Sunday belonged to bricks and mortar retailers. In addition, the top five websites belonging to high street retailers have all boosted their traffic significantly over the past few weeks.

Compared with the previous Sunday, November 21, those shopping sub-categories that saw the biggest increase in traffic were Flowers & Gifts (18.6 per cent increase in visits), Health & Beauty (17.6 per cent increase in visits) and Books (10.3 per cent increase in visits).