Jewellery designer Alex Monroe has won the prestigious ‘Jewellery Etailer of the Year’ award for AlexMonroe.com. The trophy was presented at the glittering UK Jewellery Awards ceremony last night.

Judges commented on the intimacy of the site and noted that the blog gave a real sense of the jewellery being handmade to order in the UK. The online shop’s easy-to-use navigation and search facility were also praised and delivery times and customer service were described as ‘exceptional’ by a mystery shopper.

Vanilla Storm’s Richard Hudson had this to say: ‘We’re absolutely thrilled that AlexMonroe.com has won Jewellery Etailer of the Year. This has been a fantastic project and we’re looking forward to collaborating with Alex in the future.”

A big shout out to Alex, Emma, Susie and the team. This is a huge endorsement of their hard work in keeping the site fresh and appealing and in engaging with their customers via the blog.

According to IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) online shopping this Christmas was ‘later, larger and longer than in 2007′. 3.8M Internet shoppers spent £102M online on Christmas Day alone, with many retailers beginning their online sales when stores closed on Christmas Eve.

Although overall UK retail sales fell by 3.3% on a like-for-like basis, according to the British Retail Consortium, online sales grew by a third compared to December 2007.

Research from Capgemini revealed that shoppers might be turning to the web to beat the credit crunch and that online spend is continuing to grow, despite falling sales on the high street. As part of the research 2,000 shoppers took part in a survey.  37% claimed to have completed more than half of their shopping online and 59.9% spent more online this Christmas than last year.

IMRG and Capgemini also calculated the Average Basket Value (ABV) for each sector revealing clothing, footwear and accessories to be the fastest growth area, consistently outperforming other sectors throughout 2008.

All good news for online shop owners and very promising for 2009, as all indicators suggest that growth is expected to continue.

If a secure eCommerce shopping solution could benefit your business, please get in touch on 0161 282 4525. We understand the business of selling on the web and specialise in this area. Take a look at our
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- www.imrg.org

- www.brc.org.uk

- www.emarketer.com