According to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, online shopping reached its highest growth since June 2008. This massive boost is attributed to the warm weather and the World Cup.

IMRG spokeswoman Tina Spooner said the e-retail market in the United Kingdom has grown 14 percent that is in line with predictions for the year.

From Thescotsman.scotsman.com:

The index shows a 3 per cent sales increase in May, compared to April this year.

Preparations for the World Cup appear to have played their part, with alcohol sales up 23 per cent compared to last year and electrical goods up 13 per cent.

Online clothing sales rose in May, up 32 per cent compared to last year, fuelled by sportswear buying and warmer weather.

Capgemini spokesman Chris Webster said: “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 rapidly.

E–retailers have already started to benefit from an increase in consumer spending as consumers are now confident of the economy as recession is now almost over.

In this YouTube video, Gary Rosenzweig provides some basic tips to be safe while shopping online. The video suggests that customers opting for online shopping must lookout for secure checkout pages, trust their instincts, use good passwords, and have a credit card; a must-see for all you online shoppers out there.

Introduction of online facilities such as Online shopping and Internet banking surely have simplified things besides adding to the comfort and convenience of people. However, things are not as safe as their appear in the first place as the World Wide Web is full of individuals trying to steal critical information for mischievous purposes. Read on!

Online shopping and Internet Banking are quite popular with consumers of today. This is also the reason why hackers target them to gain easy money through fraud and identity theft. Though illegal, computer hacking does exist and you are surely fooling yourself if you think that you cannot be a victim of hacking.

Believe it or not, hacking is a universal concept and no PC in this world is an exception. It does not matter if you are rich or average your critical info can still be hacked as hackers do not make discrimination though they obviously prefer the rich. There are ways to guard your PC and information from getting hacked, especially if you make use of shared PCs.

Remember, things can be made easier and safe by following some easy and effective tips. Let us read about some good tips to keep your bank account, credit cards, and other financial information secure from all types of hacking activities.

Buy only from trusted retailers and do not forget to verify authenticity of the retailer by visiting online forums and sites such as PissedConsumer.com
Never choose to save your card number, CVV, or other info while transacting on the web

Do not shop from shared PCs. The risk of getting hacked is extremely high, to say the least

Do not share your passwords and keep them tough to crack. This means that while a password such as “@125%45555$998*” can be termed as good, a password such as “123456789″ is easy for the hackers to crack

Make sure that the checkout page where you are about to enter your payment or personal information has an “s” after the “http” in the address page. This means that a checkout page with the address “https://www.abc.com/” is more reliable and safe than “http//www.abc.com/” If you are using Mozilla Firefox as your Internet browser, the secure site status will also be reaffirmed in green just before https://www.abc.com/, for example: 

Do make sure that the payment is made before you and the card is not swiped more than once while using your ATM, debit, or credit cards to make payment for groceries

It is always recommended to spend quality time analyzing your credit card or bank statement

Make use of a good (preferable paid) antivirus and activate Firewall. Also, allow your PC to install critical update patches from MicrosoftNever click on an email or attachment from an unknown source

Do not submit your personal or payment information to emails suggesting that they have originated from your bank or card issuing authority and redirecting you to other site

In case you lose your card, report the loss immediately to the issuing authority besides lodging a formal complaint with the law authorities

If your card has expired, destroy it in the best possible manner. This can be done by cutting it in half through the magnetic strip

Remember that the onus of creating and maintaining high standards of data privacy lies solely with you and it is always better to follow safety in the first place itself rather than trying to comply with the safety standards it after being made a victim of fraud or identity theft.

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