Figures from Capgemini suggest that sales made via safe shopping online are growing at rates normally only experienced during the Black Friday weekend.

Internet Retailing reports that there was a 38 per cent rise in e-commerce purchases last week, meaning that the rapid switch to web-based shopping platforms by consumers across the country has helped to emulate the kind of spending shift that is only usually seen in the weeks leading up to Christmas each year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the retailers which sell both online and on the high street which saw the most marked increase in e-commerce spending, with sales growing by just over two-thirds during the past seven days. In comparison, retail brands that only sell via safe shopping online saw a more modest four per cent increase in spending.

Report spokesperson Lucy Gibbs explained that multichannel sales moving to the internet were creating an unprecedented set of circumstances, corresponding with a massive drop-off in sales volumes seen at bricks and mortar stores.

Fashion brands will be relieved to see that after a serious dip in sales, people are beginning to spend more on clothing again, although this is partly to do with the fact that a number of major retailers in this sector paused their e-commerce offerings altogether in order to adapt their distribution networks to keep staff safe.

Another surprising fact outlined in the study is that there was a 150 per cent spike in the number of people buying gifts online compared with the same week in 2019, showing that shoppers are feeling particularly generous at the moment or are simply taking advantage of e-commerce sites in order to buy products for friends and family who may be unable to acquire these items via any other means.