Britons are the world’s biggest online spenders

BRITISH households are the biggest online spenders in the world, according to a report published today.

It highlights the boom in internet shopping in the UK, which has devastated high street retailers and led to a surge in delivery vans on the roads.

According to trade body UK Cards Association, online spending has jumped by 28 per cent in two years.

Last year households spent £154billion online – or £422million a day. In 2014 the total was £120billion.

And this excludes the £44billion spent with foreign giants such as Amazon and Apple iTunes, because the transactions are processed overseas.

The spending spree has helped make UK households the biggest online shoppers, according to the

‘A complete change in shopping culture’

UK Cards Association. Figures in the report from analysts GlobalData show that in 2015 UK households spent an average of £4,600 online in 2015 – or $5,900.

This is 28 per cent more than in the US ($4,600), almost four times more than in China ($1,500) and around two and a half times more than in France ($2,400).

According to the UK Cards Association, Britain has the largest e-commerce market in Europe and ranks third in the world for the total amount of online sales – behind only China and the US.

This is despite China’s population of more than 1.3billion being 20 times as big as the UK’s.

But the surge in online spending has taken its toll on high street retailers, as many shops struggle to compete with online giants such as Amazon and Asos.

Among the casualties have been high street chain Debenhams, which yesterday revealed plans to close up to ten stores and several warehouses, which was partly blamed on its weak online offering.

Veteran City commentator David Buik, who works for stockbroker Panmure Gordon, said: ‘The culture of shopping has changed completely – nobody carries cash around.

‘People want to do it all online whether it’s buying a holiday, or watching films on Netflix.

‘Unless retailers are putting the right stocks on their shelves at the right price they’re in trouble.’

The report says consumers now go online for 23 per cent of all clothing spending, while 67 per cent of concert ticket spending and 61 per cent of cinema, theatre and dance spending is done on the internet.

Nearly four in every £10 spent on travel is paid for online, with 54 per cent of spending on flights made through the internet.

Spending on entertainment accounted for one in four online card purchases. But most people still leave their homes to do their grocery shopping – with groceries making up only 7 per cent of online purchases.

In total, 26 per cent of all card spending was online last year, up from 22 per cent in 2014.

Shoppers made 1.8billion purchases online last year at an average of 150million a month – an increase of 38 per cent from 2014.

Perhaps partly because it feels less painful to part with money online, the average transaction was £85 – more than double the £38 spent in store.