'Bricks and clicks' retailers win battle for web traffic

'Bricks and clicks' retailers appear to have had the upper hand over pure-play internet stores in terms of web traffic this Christmas.

According to research by credit-checking and information-services company Experian, high-street retailers with a web shopfront had 68 percent more internet traffic than their online-only rivals during the Christmas period.

The news comes against a background of a drop in high-street footfall of 3.1 percent in December, the company said.

According to Experian, the boost for bricks-and-clicks retailers was due to shoppers researching products online before going on to make purchases on the high street.

Fashion retailers, supermarkets and department stores were the favoured destinations for those browsing on the web before buying on the high street, with the most searched for products being TVs, iPods and netbooks.