Figures published by PushON last week suggest that while shopping online is hugely popular in the UK, many people prefer to visit bricks and mortar stores when splashing out on the most expensive products.

Internet Retailing reports that almost two thirds of respondents to the study said that they would rather snap up high value items from a high street outlet, even if the same product was easily accessible on e-commerce sites.

Eighty two per cent of this group said that they felt more secure in buying big ticket goods at a store as opposed to from the web.

This seems to go against the idea that people use real world outlets as showrooms for desirable items, getting firsthand experience before using safe shopping online to get them at lower price points.

Forty seven per cent of the 1000 people who participated in the study said that while they preferred to begin researching an expensive item via the internet, they also choose to head to physical retail locations to engage with staff members and get more information before making a decision.

Report spokesperson, Sam Rutley, said that the more expensive the item, the greater the levels of reluctance amongst consumers to buy online rather than in-store.

This indicates that e-commerce sites need to do a better job of allowing customers to get up close and personal with products before they commit to a purchase, as the current approach is not doing enough to convince big spenders to part with their cash.

Rutley argued that this was also an issue of trust, with high street stores able to make consumers feel more confident when buying expensive items. He predicts that e-commerce sites are losing out on millions of pounds in sales each year because of this.