UK shoppers spent 17 pence in every pound online in the first half of the year, a report has said. The total internet spend was £26.5bn, up 38% on the same period last year, according to e-commerce group IMRG and consultancy Capgemini.

Rising food and fuel bills and the credit crunch have forced shoppers to seek out bargains away from the high street stores.

Online sales have reached nearly 20% of total retail spending, the report said.

The survey, based on figures from IMRG, Capgemini and the British Retail Consortium, said shopping in cyberspace had become more popular because consumers were being more cautious about their finances.

A sharp rise in living costs, fuelled by energy and food prices, and the rising cost of borrowing have put household budgets under considerable strain.

The report added that the credit crunch and rising inflation had dented internet sales, compared with 2007.

But web-based shopping continued to outperform the High Street, said James Roper, chief executive at IMRG.

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Timothy Sawyer, Managing Director of Ivobank, said: “Our new company offers more than just online banking. We offer a service where businesses and customers who make payments online can do so knowing that their money is secure, earning interest and easy to manage. It also allows customers to move money instantly from their account to friends’ and families’ accounts with Ivobank, making it very attractive for international money transfers.”

Ivobank has been launched across the UK, Ireland, Spain and Canada, offering easy-to-use payment services to friends and family. Customers also have access to a virtual debit card - The Ivobank Virtual Card - which can be used to make purchases online anywhere that MasterCard is accepted.

This new was reported by Internet Retailling, you can read the full story at this page

Shopping carts are usually associated with secure sites such as Amazon. A secure site is one that is virtually unhackable when it comes to a person’s credit card details, such sites usually have a small padlock in one corner of the screen. The software has to be uploaded to a secure server that is designed to handle sensitive information such as credit card payments.

Another feature of shopping cart sites ensures that the cart is activated whenever someone makes a purchase. Once a purchaser presses the submit button then the software is able to access a database that contains information about all of the items the online store has on offer. Shopping carts therefore allow the website owner to easily manage everything that is associated with running an internet store.

Once a web master installs shopping cart software on their site, they get an online store. The store is accessed when a visitor looks for a particular category or item, details of which are stored on a database. Once the store has been successfully accessed the user chooses what they want to buy and is then given a series of commands to complete the buying process.

The type of software that the store owner has access to is determined by the number of features on offer. Generally speaking a store owner will have access to all the categories that make running an online store a viable proposition. If you are considering opening an online store then you need to decide whether you are going for licensed software, which generally means that you will have access to all of the shopping cart’s resources for a fixed monthly fee. Those who opt for hosted software usually do so on the basis of a monthly or quarterly payment. The advantages of licensed software is that because the web master owns the license they can then open as many stores as they like using the same software. It also means that the source code can be accessed, enabling the user to edit and customise the software that they have on license. Hosted software means the store owner cannot access features in such a way as to customise it. On the plus side if you have a hosted software you will receive any updates to the service as they come along, and this includes security updates.

The survey, called Interaction: Addressable, Searchable, Social and Mobile, finds that interactive media will remain the principal source of advertising growth in the UK and beyond over next two years.

In 2007 the interactive media segment – which includes the internet, mobile and gaming – accounted for 20 percent of all UK ad spend, and was driven by better handsets and WiFi connections. The segment is then going to grow to 25 percent this year before reaching 30 percent by 2009.

In comparison, interactive media in the US only generated 12 percent of national ad spend in 2007, rising to 16 percent by 2009.

Sweden is currently the second biggest spender on interactive media, taking 17 percent of its ad spend in 2007. However, the Scandinavian country is expected to be leapfrogged by neighbouring Denmark by 2009, when the new media will take 23 percent and 24 percent respectively, according to the report.

Globally, interactive media’s share of advertising reached 11 percent last year, and this is expected to hit 15 percent by 2009, led by gains in the US and Western Europe.

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