Tag: Retailing

Shoppers browsed retail internet sites in record numbers in the first week of December, adding to the expectations that this year will bring a massive e-Christmas. Figures to be released today from Hitwise, the internet site monitoring group, show that visits to online retailers reached an all-time high in the week to December 4, with retailers clocking up 13.1 per cent of all visits from surfers. Activity dipped slightly to 12.9 per cent in the week to December 11. Hitwise said site visits were up 24 per cent in the first week of December against last year. The growth in activity dovetails with research released last week by the IMRG, the electronic retail industry body, that anticipates a 64 per cent leap in online spending to Dollars 4bn (Pounds 2.07bn) this year. “The amazing thing to me is that there has not been real investment in this area for four years after the boom and bust days,” said James Roper, chief executive of the IMRG. “All the growth in the past four years has come from consumer demand.”