Shops feel crunch as 17p in every £1 is now spent online

Consumers are increasingly shopping online to try to beat the credit crunch, new figures reveal.

The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index today said online shoppers spent more than £26.5 billion online in the first six months of this year - up 38 per cent on the £19.2 billion recorded for the first half of last year. The figures also reveal that 17p in every pound is now spent online, equivalent to half of all supermarket sales and larger than all retail sales for clothing and footwear.

Shoppers are being driven online in the hunt for lower prices. "While online retail is not immune to the credit crunch, it is showing greater resilience than the high street," said Mike Petevinos of Capgemini UK.

The report also predicts that many more high street stores could disappear as retailers move online.

"We predict between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of all retail will be online in the next five years," said Mr Petevinos. James Roper, chief executive and founder of IMRG, which represents online retailers, said: "Tight budgets and poor weather keep people at home where they can shop online for bargains. Clothing and footwear sales were the biggest losers in physical stores in June.

Online, however, they were big winners; clothing sales were up 32 per cent, lingerie sales rose by 37 per cent and footwear 38 per cent." Christian Robinson of toys and gadgets site Firebox.comsaid: "June marked Firebox.com's 10th birthday, and we set new records for web traffic and retail sales grew 20 per cent year on year."

Gary Berg of Lighting Direct said sales were up 32 per cent on last June.