Traditional retailers, such as Tesco, reported big increases in the turnover of their online operations. One of the oldest and best known virtual shops, Amazon, reported that UK sales over the Christmas period more than doubled from a year ago. Wider range of purchases BBC News Online readers confirmed books, CDs, DVDs and mobile phones were the most popular online purchases. But this year they also bought larger numbers of other goods and services including toys, theatre tickets and holiday bookings. Fraud fear Several of our correspondents mentioned the fear of credit card fraud.
People are still reluctant to send their credit card details over the web.
Cyberspace is no shopping nirvana, though. David Llewellyn in England reported almost having his Christmas ruined by a failed delivery from Tesco Direct. When it finally arrived, a day and a half late, almost half the items were missing. We ended up with less than 24 hours to go out and buy basic items like dishwasher tablets, tonic water and brandy. Here to stay People also experienced problems when trying to return an item that didn't turn out to be what they expected.