The latest is Deloitte, which estimates online Christmas sales will increase by 10 percent this year ¡ª a figure in line with predicted growth across the past 12 months. The consultancy puts total online spend this year at £4.7bn, also a 10 percent rise year on year.

Although it is still growing, commentators have predicted online shopping is beginning to slow ¡ª a recent Capgemini IMRG e-Retail Sales Index report noted web sales grew by 54 percent in the last quarter of 2007 and just 15 percent in the corresponding quarter this year.

Deloitte also estimated the average basket size for online shoppers is 15 percent larger than those of high-street shoppers.

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  According to Deloitte lead retail consulting partner Ian Geddes, research based on the responses of 1,000 shoppers shows online consumers planning to spend an average of £773 this Christmas compared to £665 on the high street.

Shoppers in the north-west are most likely to shop online for the holiday, with 22 percent of respondents in that area planning to do so, compared to only two percent in Northern Ireland. Men are still more likely than women to do their shopping online.

The survey also found 81 percent of the 350 retailers surveyed now offer online stores, up from 71 percent last year and 51 percent in 2006.

The proportion of transactions coming from online businesses remains small though, with more than half of the retailers saying less than 10 percent of total sales came from their websites. However, one in five said their online sales made up more than 25 percent of total revenues.