broadband news

Broadband shopping booms

The broadband shopping sector has achieved its highest ever share of overall spending.

The research, conducted by the Office for National Statistics, reveals broadband sales currently account for 3.8 per cent of all sales, up from 2.8 per cent in June.

The statistics highlight the changing face of seasonal shopping, as people move away from traditional high street shopping and use broadband to bag the bargains.

Further emphasising this preference for broadband, department store sales fell 1.5 per cent last month in November - despite a big push with up to 70 per cent off sales - plummeting to their lowest level since figures were first collected in 1986. The overall annual growth rate was the weakest since early 2006, highlighting the underlying trend of slowing sales.

The market research group Experian said shopper numbers were down 11.2 per cent on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week compared with the corresponding days last year. As reported in the Guardian, Experian said: "Given the economic situation, we expect consumers will not be shopping with the gusto witnessed in previous years."

Despite the seemingly high percentage increase in broadband sales, analysts are playing down the figures. They say broadband sales are highly seasonal, and the share will drop after Christmas. They added that "click and collect" sales, where someone reserves something through broadband to pick up in the store, counted as broadband internet sales in the data. The ONS also cited the popularity of games consoles as one of the major factors in increased broadband sales.

17/12/2008
Author: CompareBroadbandUK staff writer

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