New research has shown the success of online sales over the past month, painting the overall retail picture.

Data released by the British Retail Consortium and conducted by KPMG found that non-food and non-store sales in the UK were up by 15.9 per cent in March, compared to the same month a year earlier.

Furthermore, internet, mail-order and phone sales were also up on February 2010’s year-on-year increase of 15.5 per cent.

Helen Dickinson, head of retail at KPMG, said that the fact that Easter fell into the March 2010 period had helped to improve the picture.

“Without this uplift a gloomier picture would have emerged – concern about the future continues to weigh on consumers’ minds and the outlook for spending remains uncertain,” she added.

These figures were backed up by recent data from Likemind and Vision Critical, which found that 90 per cent of UK consumers went online to look for new items to buy, rather than visiting the shops.

The number of people using online channels to search for their latest purchase is set to overtake traditional in-store shopping, according to new research.

Data from Likemind and Vision Critical found that 90 per cent of UK consumers fired up their computer to look for new items to buy rather than take a trip to the shops.

Furthermore, around 50 per cent of those polled said that they received a better level of service by using the internet than they did when opting for the face-to-face interaction of high-street shopping.

Nick Jefferson, chief executive of Likemind, said that putting the customer at the centre of the shopping experience was key for businesses if they want to build up brand loyalty.

“This really puts the pressure on companies to work hard to understand their website user needs and learn from analytics how visitors are behaving on their site,” he added.

Recently, it was reported that online sales during February were given a boost by Valentine’s Day.

The UK is home to the largest online shopping market in Europe, according to new data.

Forrester Research found that the UK is to sustain a double-digit growth over the next five years, with the number of people using the internet to find and buy products rising from 31 million to 40 million in that time. This will see online retail hit £36.4 billion pounds in this country alone.

Furthermore, the research found that 48 per cent of UK consumers currently use the internet to make monthly online purchases. This is the highest number in Europe, with the average for the rest of the continent sitting at 32 per cent.

Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, said: "The retail innovators over the next five years will demonstrate customer enablement across all touchpoints, not just via a PC-based web browser."

It was revealed earlier this year in a study by the British Retail Consortium that online growth has risen by four per cent on 2009.

Photography is often touted as one of the best ways to capture a moment or document an event.

Now, young people in the south-west are being encouraged to take up photography as a hobby in the form of a new competition, thisisbristol.co.uk reported.

Individuals aged 19 and under are eligible to take part in the contest, with the winning images to be displayed during May’s Bristol Festival of Photography.

Participants are divided into different age categories – the under fives, five to 11, 11 to 14, 14 to 16 and 16 to 19.

There is no limit to a photographer’s subject, so young people can really be creative about their image choices.

Luckily, there is no shortage of things to photograph in the city. From the Clifton suspension bridge to the SS Great Britain, there are a number of subjects to catch a budding photographer’s eye.

This year will see the first Bristol Festival of Photography, with the event taking place between May 20th and June 9th.

Online retailers are seeing a positive rise in sales figures, according to new research by an industry expert.

The British Retail Consortium said that online retail growth is far outshining overall retail growth, with sales rising 4.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis compared with December 2008.

A statement by the group said that the sharp increase in online retail between November and December shows that customer confidence in websites is growing.

Sharon Hardiman, head of non-store retailing at the consortium, said that Christmas produced the strongest online sales growth of the year for non-food goods.

"Non-store sales are only about four per cent of overall retail sales but are growing much more rapidly as people become increasingly confident about shopping this way. For some, severe weather made shopping online more attractive than going out," she added.

Online also had advantages over shops during the Christmas period, with people being able to access early sale stock even when stores had closed for the festive period.

Online shoppers have helped to ensure a successful Christmas period for the nation’s retailers, according to an industry expert.

David Smith, director of operations at IMRG, said that internet activity over the festive period became part of most people’s shopping routines, whether this was emailing friends, social networking or surfing for bargains.

"Online retailers were able to benefit from this changing consumer behaviour by achieving record sales volumes with many sales and offers starting on Christmas Eve," he added.

It was also found that the Royal Mail strike action did not deter people from placing orders in the weeks before Christmas. Furthermore, 41.3 per cent stated that they are planning to spend more online next December after having a positive festive shopping experience last year.

Chris Russell, director at eDigitalResearch, added that retailers offering much later delivery dates for Christmas orders had helped increase revenue for the 2009 festive period.

Earlier this week, House of Fraser stated that it had posted a 91 per cent online sales jump in the run-up to Christmas.

The sheer volume of online sales over the Christmas period has helped businesses enjoy the festivities, in spite of the current economic crisis.

New figures from Retail Decisions said that there was a 21 per cent surge in online sales to an estimated £49.8 billion last year, with more than 33 million Britons having bought products from the world wide web.

Carl Clump, chief executive of the firm, said: “In 2009, 30 per cent of online sales took place in November and December, underlining the importance of the holiday season to retailers.”

Mr Clump added that the top sellers over the Christmas period included necessities such as white goods for the kitchen, closely followed by the likes of laptops, LCD TVs, digital cameras, games consoles and iPhones.

It is also thought that the current wintery weather will help to boost online sales, with people unable to get out to the shops.

An example of this is that online betting websites have seen an upturn, with people unable to get to the bookies or having to find alternatives with horse racing meetings being called off.