U.K. Online Sales Surge In January

The economy is supposed to be slowing down, but you couldn’t really prove it by online sales. According to the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), theindustry body that monitors these things, in Britain online spending was hitting records.   The BBC reports that Brits spent about $9 billion online lastmonth, which is a staggering rise of 75% over January 2007. The bulk seems to have been on clothes and electrical goods, which both saw a rise of around a third on the same time a year earlier.  Anthoula Madden, vice-president at IMRG Capgemini UK’s consumer products and retail team, said,   "The index shows that January sales are as large a phenomenon online as they are onthe high street, with the overall online market continuing to show strong growth. The high growth in electricals and clothing suggests that much of this spending is being driven by shoppers treatingthemselves to the items missing from their Christmas stockings."   Using an index based on around 60 online retailers, the figures suggest that the growth in sales volume over the lastthree months is at its highest since January 2003, and stands as more than twice that of last year.   Apart from the surge in clothes and electricals, health and beauty items experienced an 18%growth, with beers, wines and spirits rising 9%.