Rakuten has published the results of a new survey which suggest that people from other parts of the world are particularly interested in carrying out safe shopping online with retailers operating out of the UK.

45 per cent of respondents from the rest of Europe as well as the Asia-Pacific region said they were committed to snapping up an item from a British e-commerce site in the run-up to Christmas this year.

This means that UK retailers are amongst the most popular on an international level for those who are eager to engage in cross-border commerce.

The report also looked into other upcoming trends that are set to shape the holiday season’s spending habits. Almost 40 per cent of people said that they were intending to look into shopping on rival sites to Amazon, perhaps suggesting that there is less support for this US e-commerce titan than in the past.

British consumers who participated in the study were likely to look to the likes of Boots, Debenhams and John Lewis in an attempt to order items online from sites other than Amazon. Meanwhile, in terms of pure gift-buying appeal, Marks & Spencer managed to win out over its competitors.

The final aspect of the report delved into just how many presents the average consumer will be buying for friends and family this festive season, with 15 per cent of shoppers from the UK saying they were planning to give presents to at least 11 different people. This is counterpointed by the three per cent of German consumers intending to fulfil a similarly large order.

Clearly, there are differences both in shopping habits from country to country as well as in the expectations associated with gift-giving over the Christmas break, with UK retailers likely to benefit thanks to the rise of international online shopping.