Internet commerce and shopping online have become extremely popular in recent years. Companies such as Amazon have revolutionised the way we buy books and CDs. Also, booking travel arrangements such as airplane tickets, car rentals, hotels and other accommodation is no increasingly carried out online, by customers themselves, who are thus avoiding the costs of going through a travel agent or other middle man, and keep the savings for themselves. This area has been augmented by the growth in low cost airlines and the increasing popularity of taking short trips abroad more frequently.
As well as these purchases, more and more services are becoming available online, from online banking, financial services, applying for loans and mortgages, and a whole host of online business dealings, have made the internet probably far more important than the high street for many shopping needs.
And this trend is only set to increase. Already stores like Tesco and Asda offer online shopping services, where you select the items you want to purchase, add them to your electronic shopping basket, pay for them online, and then have them delivered to your door. The growth of online...