Online Sales Hit £5b in the UK in July

The economic crisis managed to put a strain even on seemingly unstoppable sectors like online advertising or commerce. While advertising has been recovering for the past year, it looks like online shopping is making a comeback as well with sales growing 18 percent year-over-year in July in the UK.

Sales hit a record high last month in the UK at £5 billion, the biggest month this year. But it's not the sales figure that is the most impressive, it's the growth compared to last year.

Granted, the past couple of years haven't been particularly kind to commerce including the online variety. The 18 percent jump is the biggest in the UK in a single month since 2007. Sales volume increased by 1.1 percent from June 2010 in the last month.

"[S]hoppers spent £5 billion online in July, the most in any month this year. With Brits spending an average of £81 per person, online retail has shown a marked turning point since the lows of the last two years with consistently high growth levels throughout the first half of 2010," the IMRG group said in a report.

"The Index has grown by 18% compared to last July, in the biggest annual jump for the month of July since before the recession in 2007. As retailer promotions drew shoppers online, an impressive growth rate of 14% was recorded compared to June – the highest monthly growth of 2010 so far," the report added.

Part of the reason for the July growth is an unlikely ally, the British weather. With a particularly rainy month, shoppers preferred to go online rather than face the elements.

Some of the particular trends of last month include the travel sector which saw an increase of 32 percent from June. On the other hand, alcohol saw a big slump after the World Cup with sales of beer, wine and spirits dropping by 9 percent in July.