Experian predicts that the internet retail sector will grow by £8 billion, a rise of 36% from its current value to £30.6 billion by the end of the Olympic year. If it continues to grow as predicted it will double its share of total retail sales by 2012 to 10.4% - that will mean £1 in every £10 will be spent online.

Carl Scheible, Managing Director of PayPal UK, said: “Online retail is booming even in the current economic uncertainty because shoppers turn to the internet when they are trying to be thrifty. Two thirds of online shoppers are now convinced their money goes further online compared to less than half who believed it last year, an increase of 8.5 million people. The success of online retail really is the silver lining in the economic crisis.”

The UK gained 1.9 million new internet users over the last year. Numbers have risen from 36.9 million in May 2009 to 38.8 million in May 2010. Of the 1 million new users over 50, men were more likely to adopt the internet than women, accounting for over 700,000 of the group.

The over 50’s now makes up 31% of the internet user market in the UK. The research showed that sites usage was popular in many area including, travel, health, genealogy, fashion, cooking and greeting cards.

“The fact that one in four Britons who use the internet today are 50 to 64 years old proves it is no longer the sole preserve of the young and technical literati,” said Alex Burmaster, analyst at Nielsen.

Tina Spooner, Director of Information at IMRG said: “With online sales growing at their highest rate in almost two years, this is good news for the e-retail industry. The fine weather in late May, together with the build up for the World Cup appears to have had a positive impact for e-retailers.

“Year to date, the UK e-retail market has grown 14%, which is in line with our predictions for this year. With recent research suggesting that over half of consumers believe the economy is now recovering from the recession, it is evident that e-retailers have already started to benefit from an increase in consumer spending.”

Chris Webster, Vice President, Retail Consulting and Technology, Capgemini, added: “Throughout the history of the Index, we have seen a noticeable rise in sales of certain goods whenever there is a major sports tournament on. This year’s World Cup is no exception, with online retail as a whole growing by the highest level in two years, and sectors such as clothing, alcohol and electricals rising especially rapidly. It’s good to see that consumers’ spirits haven’t been dampened by concerns over government spending cuts, and savvy retailers will have embraced the opportunity to draw in new customers with marketing and price incentives.”

The recent news, from Experian Hitwise also showed searches for rental properties had increased by 10%.  At the same time searches for mortgages went down by 22%, perhaps indicating that the number of people who feel able to finance a purchase is limited.

“Despite internet searches for mortgages being down compared to last year, the level of interest in property could be a tentative sign that people are beginning to feel a little more optimistic about the economy, “said Charlotte Hogg, MD of Experian UK & Ireland.

Experian’s data contrasts with the latest consumer confidence figures which shows a dip last month.

This week the internet music service announced major new features that integrate with users Facebook and Twitter, and help synchronise the service with users’ music collections.

The improvements could mark a change in tactics against Apple’s market-leading iTunes as Spotify aims to attract more users to use, manage and stream its library of music.

Users can now connect to their Facebook account from within Spotify, importing friends, profile details, and browse and share playlists of tracks and top artists with friends. A link also lets users share music choices on Twitter.

• Watch out for dgm’s latest tool for increasing incremental sales.  SocialTrak will empower consumers of dgm’s merchants on the affiliate network to promote their purchase to their social networks.  Our robust tracking will be extended through the tool providing facilities for both the consumer and the original affiliate to be remunerated for any resulting purchases.  SocialTrak is scheduled to be released within the next couple of months.

According to Steve Lee, Google’s Group Product Manager for Mobile Maps, over 50 million people use Google Maps via their mobile everyday.  Like all Google products, the technology is cloud based, so data is served in real-time to the user’s handset.  “The advantage that gives us,” said Mr Lee, “is that we have access to the whole of Google search.  Even if you don’t know the name of the place you are going, we can still find it.”  A search for “navigate to Rosetta Stone” provided the British museum as an option which can then be selected.

The launch is particularly significant as it marks Google’s entry into another market, satellite navigation, already occupied by highly profitable providers.  Google is undermining the established business model by providing the information and technology for free.

The services main weakness is that motorists using the Google Maps satnav in Europe will be forced to pay roaming charges through their mobile phone.

• dgm already utilises Google Maps technology for the travel sector on its affiliate network.  dgmTravelMaps is a downloadable content unit available free to our affiliates.  Incorporating the feeds from merchants like Haven and Pontins in this sector, dgmTravelmaps allows affiliates to quickly create an interactive tool on their sites, through which potential consumers can search geographically.

“In 2009 the advertising industry was hit hard but online has proved itself a winning medium, capturing a greater share of marketing budgets, ” Guy Phillipson, Chief Executive Officer of the IAB said.

“In the past year we’ve seen some real success stories as search passed the £2 billion mark, and online video advertising experienced spectacular growth. And with sectors such as Retail and Consumer Goods increasing their spending on the internet we can look forward to a healthier 2010.”

Twitter to launch paid advertising

This week saw the announcement from Twitter that they will be accepting ‘promoted tweets’ from paying advertisers.  These promotional tweets will appear when users search the Twitter site.  The move is intended to emulate the success Google has enjoyed serving paid advertising against user searches.

Clients already signed up include Sony Pictures, Starbucks, Bravo and US Retailer Best Buy.  The tweets will appear as ’sticky’ tweets at the top of the search results and although they will be part of the search results, they will be clearly labelled as ‘promoted’.

The service also plans to include advertising to coincide with users interests, determined by the mesages they receive and send.  These ads will also be included in messages recieved through 3rd party application which account for upt o 80% of a users activity.

• Seperately dgm are about to release a URL shortener into the affiliate interface on dgmPro.  The new feature will allow dgm affiliates to easily create short URL’s for use in social media tools like Twitter and Facebook.  The tool is due to be released in the next couple of weeks.

Google leaves China

Google has grabbed a few column inches this week, with the announcement that, after four years, they are pulling out of China rather than self censor.  It was 2 months ago that Google announced they would no longer remove sensitive material from Google.cm search results.  They will retain their research and adverising teams on the Chinese mainland but plan to move the language search service to Hong Kong where more relaxed laws allow them to operate uncensored.

However, searches for sensitive subjects will still be blocked by the Chinese authorities own censoring systems.  For more information on being found on Google contact dgmSearchLab