Half of UK surfers did online Xmas shopping

Ten million UK web users turned to the net to shop in the run-up to Christmas - and just over half of their purchases were presents.

Shoppers in the UK and the US were happier doing it online this year and plan more of the same next year.

Top of the list of buys were books, DVDs and CDs. And enough people bought clothes and groceries to put Tesco in the list of top five e-tailers over the festive period.

In the UK, shoppers gave the choice, range and condition of online goods a five out of five rating according to a survey by pollster NOP World. And they gave online retailers four out of five for speed, method and timeliness of delivery.

Forty per cent of US online Christmas shoppers reported a better deal from customer services, according to customer contact software company Aspect Communications.

Only three per cent had serious problems, while over 90 per cent of those contacting a company either wanted more product information or to check delivery status.

An almost miraculous 20 per cent of US customers received a response to an email within an hour, with over half getting a response within 12 hours.

In the UK, web users expect their online shopping will double this year.