Go online and find all you need

Online shopping in the UK is slowly taking over the world of retail.

While several national and international companies have joined a parade of casualties since recession has started to kick in, online sales have boomed and gotten to the point where many shops are seriously struggling to stay in business.

Not even last Christmas surge has been helpful enough to avoid closures.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in fact, there has been a 13.2 per cent increase in internet sales over the last 12 months.

Over the same period of time, sales in stores' volume increased by less than 1 per cent, instead. There has also been an unprecedented food sector sales' contraction, which sounds worrying.

However, grocery is still a minor percentage of internet sales, as most consumers flock to ‘fuss-free’ online purchases to get a good deal within the non-food sector.

As if it was not enough, online shopping accounts to nearly 70 per cent of total spending in the non-store retailing sector.

A report from Retail Futures shows how a fifth of high street stores could vanish in the next five years, as online retailing continues to grow.

According to the consulting firm’s report, more than 60,000 stores could close by 2013, causing unemployment to soar by almost 13 per cent.