With the general economic gloom darkening a ray of sunshine burst into Mutual Towers yesterday with the news that online shopping now accounts for 17 pence out of every pound spent in Britain.  As you can imagine the bean counters here were overjoyed at the news.  The report itself was by leading management bigwigs Cap Gemini in conjunction with e-commerce research agency IMRG.

Online = good value

The report suggested that the reason for this surge online was that with things like food and energy prices rising that people were flooding the Internet on the lookout for bargains and special offers.  Online sales have reached nearly 20% of total retail spending, the report said.

The survey, based on figures from IMRG, Capgemini and the British Retail Consortium, said shopping in cyberspace had become more popular because consumers were being more cautious about their finances.

More to come

Interestingly the report suggested that the Internet was likely to account for even more of our spend in the coming years, with as much as 50% of all retail spend done online within just five years.

IMRG CEO James Roper said: “Online shopping growth continues to out-perform the high street, as tight budgets and poor weather keep people at home where they can shop online for bargains.

Fashion coming out on top

The biggest winner was in the fashion sector, with internet clothing sales rising 32%, lingerie sales rising 37% and footwear going up by a whopping 38%.  These stats are reflected nicely here at MutualPoints, with retailers such as Figleaves, Littlewoods and Debenhams all having great years on the site.

How about you?  Do you shop online more now than in the past?  Which items in particular have you heading for your computer?  Which are still best done on the high street?

The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index reveals that poor weather conditions appear to boost online clothing sales whilst driving people away from the high street.

Poor weather this spring appeared to have encouraged online shoppers to spend over £300 million on clothes and online footwear sales saw a significant growth in sales of 20%. These figures drew a sharp contrast to sales on the high street – The British Retail Consortium reported that clothing and footwear fell further to their worst for at least 8 years.

Even in light of the looming credit crunch, the online clothing sector is still growing at a high rate. Of notable interest, shoppers are turning to the internet when making more personal underwear purchases – the Index has seen online year-on-year sales for lingerie rise by 72%.

According to Julia Reynolds, Chief Executive of, MutualPoints favourite, Figleaves.com: “The lean and fit will survive the credit crunch. Our experience tells us that retailers with strong brand values and a clear target customer will stand out during an unsure economic environment. To introduce changes in fashion seasons online, e-tailers need to communicate with customers what’s new and use various marketing methods, for example email alone is no longer sufficient.”

So does this apply to you, the humble MutualPoints member?  Does bad weather encourage you to shop online in preference to the high street?

Lingerie retailer Figleaves was recently announced as a finalist in the 2008 European Retail Solutions Awards for their innovative use of reviews and consumer feedback on the Figleaves.com website.

Figleaves are one of our favourite merchants, and judging by the reviews you have left for them they are one of your favourite shops too. For instance ‘maleman’ was particularly pleased with them.

So, a thoroughly deserved congratulations to Figleaves.  I’m sure they value your feedback so do leave a review if you’re a fellow satisfied Figleaves customer.