New figures have revealed that UK spending on e-commerce website purchases rose by 14 per cent between April 2008 and 2009.

While month-on-month sales saw a slight decrease, shoppers spent £10 more on average on online purchases last month compared with a year ago, the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index showed.

The statistics also indicated that UK online sales have surged by more than 5,000 per cent between 2000 and 2009, with consumers spending £200 billion on internet shopping during this period.

Website categories that did particularly well in terms of online sales growth in the year to April 2009 included electricals and clothing, footwear and accessories.

Despite this, Mike Petevinos, head of consulting for retail at Capgemini UK, suggested that the e-commerce sector's growth is starting to slow down.

"It is ... clear that the online market is maturing, with seasonal fluctuations becoming more noticeable in certain sectors as they are no longer obscured by the 50 per cent plus year-on-year growth rates of the past," he remarked.

UK online sales are likely to reach £56 billion by 2014, according to a forecast produced by Forrester Research earlier this year.