Online retailer dabs.com enjoyed a bumper festive season with sales up 26 per cent in Xmas 2003 compared to the same period in 2002. The number of orders dabs.com processed also increased last Christmas.

In November and December 2003, dabs.com recorded total sales of £30.47 million compared to £24.1 million for the same period in 2002. Consumer purchases on dabs.com accounted for £23.2 million, while Dabs' offline business-to-business sales division pulled in £7.27 million.

dabs.com processed 103,720 individual orders in November 2003 and 108,351 orders in December 2003, a combined total of more than 212,000 orders. This is 16 per cent up on 183,000 shipments for the same two months in 2002.

Digital audio products such as Apple's iPod and the Creative Labs' Zen were the most sought-after goods with unit sales up 185 per cent last Christmas. All-in-one multi-function devices (printer, fax, scanner and copier in one unit) also stood out as big sellers for Christmas 2003 with unit sales up 151 per cent on 2002's festive season.

Retail industry group IMRG reports that Internet shopping in the UK reached a new all-time high in November, reaching an annual growth rate of 44 per cent compared to a three per cent growth rate for the UK retail industry as a whole. According to the IMRG, Britain's 16 million online shoppers spent £1.175 billion online during November 2003, accounting for seven per cent of all retail sales. ®

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