UK consumers will spend a collective £31.2 billion on internet shopping by 2013, a new forecast has predicted.

Verdict Research's latest report says this means that e-commerce will represent ten per cent of all UK retail spending by 2013.

It also forecasts growth of 13.3 per cent to £20.9 billion in online spending for this year.

The internet's typically low prices and the convenience it offers to shoppers searching for specific items will help the e-commerce sector to continue to outperform the wider retail industry even during the recession, Verdict Research says.

Furthermore, a wider range of consumers beyond the affluent AB group will eventually take to online shopping, expanding its potential for growth even more, it adds.

Matthew Piner, retail analyst at Verdict and report co-author, comments: "Once the economy begins to recover, the offer of cheaper connections, as well as free laptops and other goods as incentives, will see the take-up rates among C2 and DE consumers achieving notable growth."

A special ninth anniversary IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index report published last month revealed that online sales have surged by 5,000 per cent since 2000 in the UK.