Worldwide shipping firms that deliver goods to consumers in the UK have no doubt witnessed more demand for parcels in the last month.

The news comes after new figures reveal that online retail is growing again.

The latest BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for July showed that non-food, non-store purchases - internet, mail-order and phone sales - were 11.3 per cent higher than in the same month, a year ago.

Overall retail sales were up by 2.6 per cent on the previous July, representing a like-for-like increase of 0.5 per cent.

Despite double-digit growth, the non-food, non-store sector experienced its slowest rate of expansion in nearly a year.

Director general of the British Retail Consortium Stephen Robertson, said: "Eleven per cent growth is not to be sniffed at and the comparison is with last year's second strongest month."

He added however, that in the context of non-store retailing's rapid growth, the showing is a little disappointing.