With the UK high street taking a battering and many well known chains facing closure and the economy in recession, e-Commerce businesses are still seeing growth. After another record Christmas for online shopping, it has been suggested that these increases can be connected to further growth in the broadband and UK mobile broadband networks.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) suggests that there is a direct connection between faster networks and increased spending on the Internet. They go on to suggest that this direct link will continue as long as network upgrades are continued.

This claim can be backed up by sales reports from e-Commerce businesses after the Christmas 2008 period showing further growth. The early concerns from consumers regarding handing over their credit card details online have now subsided. This was a major obstacle along with network speeds for the growth of UK e-Commerce.

A spokesman for the BRC has suggested that the Internet offers a great opportunity for the consumer to compare many prices side from the comfort of their own home. As their confidence of being involved in the process has grown, so has online trade. It provides great opportunities for global and niche retailers.

December 2008 saw UK shoppers spending almost £5 billion online and even over £100 million was spent on Christmas day. This is an increase on 2007 where the figure was closer to £4 billion. It is great news for the economy which is facing its worst recession for many years.

Another interesting fact was that almost 60 percent of UK shoppers increased the portion of their spending online in December 2008 as opposed to the year before.

It is expected that online shopping will continue to grow during the recession although the size of the growth is expected to slow. It is great news for the economy but also for the consumer as the opportunity to discover many great deals will continue to grow.