With the economic downturn expected to flex some serious muscle around Christmas time, the doom and gloom does seem to have a silver lining for the e-Retailers of the world. According to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index £13.16 billion is going to be spent online in the last quarter of 2008.

This is equivalent to £215 being spent by each person in the UK. Considering that this is 15% more in online sales than the 4th quarter of last year, this is something that should bring a smile to the face of the otherwise panicked UK retail market. On the downside, even though 15% growth is notable, it is eclipsed by the 54% growth in sales that occurred between 2006 and 2007. Are we seeing the plateau of the eCommerce industry as a whole, or can this 40% decrease in growth be directly attributed to the current economic downturn?

Monday December 8th is predicted to be the biggest online shopping day of 2008 with sales predicted to reach the £320 million mark. The difference in sales between December 9th 2007 and December 9th 2008 could be an interesting measure to assess the level of “credit crunchiness” that 2008 has really experienced. Watch this space.