Christmas trade on the net soars by 50 per cent

'We won't have hard data until 15 January, but we believe that we will see 45 per cent or even 50 per cent growth for December,' said IMRG's James Roper. That would push spending over the 10-week run-up to Christmas to £7.5bn, £500m more than IMRG was expecting.

Evidence of the online shopping bonanza emerged as the high street shops slashed prices to tempt sales shoppers over the new year long weekend.

'This weekend will be important, because a number of people have been working this week, and this will be the first opportunity they get,' said Richard Hyman of retail analysts Verdict.

After the dust has settled, Hyman expects spending for the whole Christmas season to be 2.7 to 2.8 per cent higher than a year ago, confounding the dire warnings of some analysts, who suggested 2006 could be the worst for decades.

'It was never going to be an absolute disaster,' Hyman said. 'What it certainly has been is patchy, with a very varied performance spectrum both by sector and by company.'

He said retailers that had already performed well in 2006, including M&S, John Lewis and Sainsbury, were likely to have seen healthy takings over Christmas, while struggling firms such as Woolworths and WH Smith would probably have had a tougher time.

Marks & Spencer will not give a formal update until 9 January, but a spokeswoman said the post-Christmas sales had got off to a good start. 'Our sales have been extremely well received; the tills have been ringing,' she said. John Lewis has announced that its sales in Christmas week were up 16 per cent on last year.

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