While high street retailers report tough trading conditions, online sales saw a huge increase at the start of the year, with Brits spending £79 per person in February.
The latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index revealed that shoppers spent a total of £4.9bn online last month, equivalent to £79 per person and 20% more than the same period last year.

While recent reports indicate the high street suffered its weakest sales growth for two years, according to IMRG Capgemini, British consumers spent a massive £10bn online during January and February, far exceeding earlier expectations.

Capgemini head of retail consulting and technology Chris Webster said: "February was a good month for online retail, up 20% on the same period last year. This increase is on the back of a very solid second half to 2010 and whilst some of the growth can be attributed to a weak start last year, nearly £5bn spent online is very significant and in stark contrast to the weak sales experienced by the traditional bricks and mortar retailers."

Department store chain John Lewis, who reported its weekly figures today, with a 29% increase in online sales. The group has continued to invest in its online product mix and seen growth across all three directorates: home, electrical and home technology and fashion.

John Lewis head of online selling Jonathon Brown commented: ""February was another strong month for johnlewis.com as we moved from the extreme highs of peak trading and Clearance into the transition of new ranges for Spring/Summer 2011. Overall sales were up over 22% on the year with all our directorates exceeding expectations and performing well above 2010."

He added: "Home had a very strong month with sales up 17% on the year with great performances across the directorate. In particular we have continued to see outstanding reaction to our new lighting ranges as well as cooking and dining which had a great run this month beating last year by over 20%. Last but not least, our electricals department continued to build on its outstanding performance in the last year (2010/11) with a very strong opening to the new trading year (2011/12) as it beat last year by 20% with all areas selling well."