Online retail growth throughout the major nations of Western Europe will see an expansion of 11 per cent in the following five years.

This is according to projections from Forrester Research.

The figure is expected to peak at 114 billion euros by 2014, while the US will generate $249 billion by the same year, at a marginally lower growth of 10 per cent.

More and more customers review the items they intend to purchase using the internet.

Despite this the majority of businesses remain wanting when it comes to a satisfactory cross-channel business, as Forrester Research state only 61 per cent of consumers starting their research online, had actually ended up buying, in a store.