The UK's love affair with online shopping will result in sales climbing by more than 16 per cent over the levels seen last Christmas.
According to online price comparison website Kelkoo, there will also be less spent in 'bricks and mortar' stores, where sales are predicted to drop by 2.1 per cent.
Overall, it is expected Christmas sales to be one per cent higher this year than in 2010 – but Kelkoo says that this prediction could be thrown into doubt if severe winter weather hits the UK during the peak shopping weeks ahead.
Its figures suggest that the rate of growth in online sales will be half that seen last Christmas, when they rose by 32 per cent compared with a year earlier, Internetretailing.net reported.
Chris Simpson, chief marketing officer at Kelkoo, said: “Online spending is showing no signs of abating, and is mounting a real challenge to the dominance of the high street which, for third year running, is expected to see a decline.
"Internet sales across the UK are set to be more important than ever, with consumers spending record amounts online, and online commerce acting as the primary driving force for overall retail growth during the festive season.”
The report also covered eight other European countries, and found that British shoppers would be the biggest spenders on the continent this Christmas, followed by the Germans and the French.
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