This reflects a year-on-year growth of 16%.

When compared with the high-street and wider retail sector, the continued resilience of e-retail in the face of economic uncertainty is clear.

The British Retail Consortium reported a disappointing start to the year, with the traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers indicating a year-on-year growth of just 2.1%.

This poor result comes on the back of a continued decline in inflation, which suggests more needs to be done to reinvigorate consumer spending on Britain’s high-street.

Travel sales bounced back in January, following five consecutive months of decline, with sales soaring 205% on December. It is typical for travel to see an increase at the start of the year, as once the expense, and stress, of Christmas is out of the way, families look to book their summer holiday.

But, for the first time since the sector was first tracked in December 2008, the average spend on travel has exceeded £1,000, which suggests that while the majority of Brits are finding their finances squeezed, the more affluent shopper is able to splash out on luxurious holidays.

To read the original article on DoF, please click here: UK retail on the front foot: Online retail surges
Related Links:

• Press Release: Determined start to 2012 for online retailers
• Industry Overview: Retail