UK Christmas e-commerce up 50% in 2005

In the ten weeks prior to Christmas 2005, online spending totaled 5 bln pounds ($8.8 bln), up from 3.33 bln pounds in the 2004 holiday season, the Interactive Media in Retail Group reported. Overall in 2005, UK shoppers spent 19.2 bln pounds ($33.79 bln) at online stores, 32% more than in 2004. On average, each of the 24 mln people who shopped on the Internet in 2005 spent 816 pounds ($1,436) over the course of the year and 208 pounds ($366) in the run-up to Christmas.