The number of people who made purchases on-line in February grew by 13% according to IMRG although the average amount each customer spent dropped across all categories except gifts (up by 36%), health and beauty (up by 8%) and lingerie (up by 9%) which is probably attributed to Valentine’s Day.

Tina Spooner the chief information officer at IMRG said:

“Online retail held its own in February, following a strong start to the year in January when the market was up 16%. Valentine’s Day clearly had a positive impact for e-retail with gift sales up 26% on February last year, and the average online gift spend reaching its highest level in over two years.

“The mobile growth rate has slowed by around a third over the last three months or so compared with 2012, which is perhaps inevitable after the boom in tablet sales last year that has no doubt driven it. As the use of mobile devices as internet portals has also become widespread, it has turned mobile into a viable sales channel as evidenced by the rise in conversion rate.”