The credit crunch might be holding back our high street spending, but it’s still not enough to prevent what experts predict will be another period of year-on-year growth for online retailing.

In forecasts released this past month the industry heavyweights are predicting e-commerce to be the one bright spot for retailers this Christmas IMRG and Capgemini forecast that UK shoppers will spend £13.16bn online in the last quarter of 2008 – a 15% rise when compared to the same period for 2007.

Verdict Research are predicting even larger growth. They feel Christmas online sales in the UK will hit £7bn, which equates to a 39.9% rise from 2007.
It will be interesting to see just how well these predictions match up to the actual figures when they’re released.

If confirmed to be accurate it shows us that, despite all the financial doom and gloom about at the moment, we’re still finding time and money to spend online.

(Source: E-Consultancy, 17/11/2008, full article here)