Britons spent more than any of its European counterparts on online shopping during 2009, a fresh study revealed.

A fresh study conducted by the Centre for Retail Research for price comparison site Kelkoo showed that the UK shoppers spent £38 billion online during 2009, despite the economic slowdown.

The research also found that UK shoppers’ French counterparts spent £22 billion, while Germans spent £29.7 billion on purchases from e-commerce websites during 2009.

UK online sales jumped 12 per cent last year, brining share of online purchases to 9.5 per cent of all retail sales in this country.

Poland stood at the lowest step with online sales of just £2.2 billion, while Finland and Norway reported online sales of £2.3 billion and £2.9 billion respectively.

Online sales across the whole Europe accounted for 4.7 per cent of all retail sales during 2009.

As per the Centre for Retail Research, the UK online sales would grow further by 12.4 per cent to reach at £42.7 billion by the end of 2010.