Consumer confidence in shopping online grows, according to statistics released by UK independent payment processor

Consumer confidence in shopping online grows, according to statistics released by UK independent payment processor

Online shopping remains on a sharp upward trend, according to research by SecureTrading, using its own figures based on customer transactions.

Despite the pre-Christmas snow holding up deliveries and temporary interruptions to online payments processing after Wikileaks supporters attacked MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa, the processor found that, from November 19 to December 15, the total number of transactions processed by a core group of SecureTrading retail clients rose 42% over the same period in 2009.

Bright future despite economy

Jon Prideaux, SecureTrading deputy chief executive, said: “Given the current state of the economy and unforeseen events such as weather and cyber attacks, we believe this huge rise is due mainly to consumers having greater confidence in shopping online. Retailers of all sizes clearly now have the systems that enable them to offer fast, secure payment processing, order fulfilment and quick delivery and returns.”

He added: “There are also a unique set of dynamics at work this year; consumers want to save money by taking advantage of the many bargains on offer, get Christmas organised early, beat the VAT rise, and save time. Online shopping ticks all these boxes.”