The warmer, brighter weather has brought out the carefree in shoppers, as more logged on-line to a range of e-retail sites and enjoyed a little spending. Top of the e-commerce sales list were products for the home and garden, as well as new summer clothing.

The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index shows that on-line consumers spent 15% more in March compared to last year, amounting to some £4.5 billion worth of sales.

In particular, 42% more was spent on-line on items for the home and garden as compared to 2009. The sunshine also prompted buyers to spend 27% more on-line on clothes, when compared to the previous month.

As Tina Spooner, of IMRG, said: “The 15% yearly growth in on-line sales is very positive and is evidence that e-retail continues to outperform the high street.”

An e-retail index reveals just how fast on-line businesses are expanding in the UK, generating many new jobs and driving new export business.

The latest report from the e-retail body, IMRG, shows:

* 600,000 British jobs are now either directly in or supporting e-retail and e-commerce.
* The UK has 150,000 on-line retail businesses
* E-retailers employ six times as many staff as when they started trading
*78% of on-line retailers surveyed expect to recruit staff in the next year
* 39% expect to take on more staff within three months
* 88% of eBay retailers sought growth through cross-border trade in the last quarter of 2008.

It is only 16 years since the first UK e-retailers started in business – and since then the “Compound Average Growth Rate” (CAGR) of employment in on-line retail has been 19% (18.9%). If growth continues at this rate, it’s predicted that there will be one million e-jobs by 2013, and almost three million by 2020.

James Roper, chief executive of IMRG is reported as saying: “It’s clear that being competitive in the on-line marketplace is critical both for businesses and the economy. E-retail is making a huge contribution to the UK’s wider economic health, creating revenue, new employment and opportunities for people to purchase goods at lower prices.”

There is good news for the future of e-commerce websites as new figures reveal that internet card-use fraud fell for the first time last year. The report from the UK Cards Association showed that card fraud on the internet, over the phone and via mail order decreased by a total of 19% to £266million.
Since 2004, card fraud losses have fallen 67%.

While any fraud is bad news – and certainly £266million still sounds like a huge amount – the fact that it is going down will help to increase the trust of shoppers who use on-line stores.

It’s believed that chip and pin technology and more secure e-retail websites have contributed to the fall in card fraud.

David Cooper, chairman of the Fraud Control Steering Group, is reported as saying: “The reasons behind the decrease in this type of fraud include the increasing use of sophisticated fraud screening detection tools by retailers and banks, as well as the continuing growth in the use of MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa, by both online retailers and cardholders.”

Another major high street retailer is aiming to grab their share of the on-line sales market. News has just been revealed that UK fashion retailer Gap is to launch an e-commerce store in the UK later this year.

The on-line store, which will cover Britain and nine other western European countries from a distribution base in the UK, will sell Gap-branded fashion items and its Banana Republic clothing.

Gap has already dipped its toes in the e-retail marketplace after debuting via major ecommerce retailer Asos in 2009. It clearly liked what it found and is now keen to expand its on-line sales.

So, another positive story in the fast-expanding world of on-line sales stores and ecommerce sites.

Conclusive evidence that on-line retail was the business to be in this Christmas. New figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index show that UK shoppers spent £5.46 billion on-line in December. This amounts to  £88.93 for every person in the UK – and is 17 per cent more than the previous December.

Comparing sales with November 2009, the December figures were 3.8 per cent up.

The report also shows what on-line retailers were saying at the time, that the peak week for shopping was the second week in December. This high came a week later than in 2008, and is thought to be because of postal strikes in November, consumers holding out for bargains and Christmas falling on a Friday.

A spokesman for IMTG is reported as saying: “These figures show that the on-line shopping sector managed to deliver strong double-digit growth in 2009 despite the economy being in recession.”

Another new survey has revealed that e-retail sales in 2009 sales were almost £50 billion – some 21% up on 2008.

The report by Retail Decisions also showed that in 2009 30% of online sales took place in November and December and the top five busiest e-retail sales days of the year were all Mondays.

Monday December 7 was the biggest online shopping day of the year in the UK, up 16% on 2008. The other four top selling Mondays were: December 28, December 14, November