Yuletide web shopping to cost firms "billions"

A report says that online sales are expected to reach £9 billion this Christmas, following a surge of two million new online shoppers over the past twelve months.

And rearchers at the Employment Law Advisory Services (ELAS) estimate that at an average of half an hour a day spent shopping online, and an average hourly wage of £12.50, UK employers could stand to lose almost a billion pounds a week in lost work time.

And there are still eight weeks 'til Christmas.

Peter Mooney, a bare-bottomed boff (Cough! News Ed.) from ELAS warns that "more and more people are turning to the internet either to buy presents, or to do a little window shopping," going on to say that "for many employers, every hour a member of staff spends looking for Chrimbo [notsic] presents online is an hour they should have spent working." But would have probably spent playing MineSweeper anyhow, reckons the INQ.

Spoilsport Mooney says that very few employers are so "Scrooge-like" that they would shout at their staff for having a quick look at Giftmas presents on the internet, but he's scared that with "sophisticated - and at times, addictive - websites now geared to keeping shoppers online for as long as possible, even an occasional glance can turn into half an hour browsing." This sort of unacceptable business practice costs UK Plc billions, he thinks.

Concerned bosses are encouraged to act now before the Christmas overload is in full swing by laying down a specific net policy. Without such a policy, businesses face losing a lot of time to shopping, and could come "unstuck for taking excessive action," said the Moonester. µ