Online shopping services such as eBay have made a huge impact on the bricks and mortar retail environment with GfK recording that the online channel is now responsible for 12 per cent of total consumer electronics sales in Britain – but this doesn’t necessarily spell doom for the retailers.

According to GfK, the majority of major companies selling goods online are those with High Street or stock market presence, opposed to ‘pure players’ who have a minor share in the online space.

This means that already successful retail giants are now taking bites of both cherries with successful traditional retail businesses along with successful online shopping sites.

“A closer look to the value of the market over the longer term shows that far from taking business from traditional retailing, online has added to the markets’ value,” said a report from GfK.

“The traditional retailing sector has quickly developed a strong position in the online market, building on the trust surrounding the retail ‘Brand’.” “

The audio/visual market in Britain in 1995 was worth 3.2 billion GBP, rising to 5.8 billion GBP by mid-2007, with 0.7 billion GBP of the latter coming from online sales.

Online shopping may account for a high portion of entire consumer electronics sales, says GfK, however with the whole market growing 1.9 billion GBP in 12 years, the outlook isn’t so bad for those retailers lacking an online presence.