Shopping Online Soars in Popularity in the UK 31/10/2000 Latest figures from MMXI Europe show that the number of people visiting retail sites on the Internet in the UK has increased by 72% since January 2000. The recently released figures show that the number of unique visitors to retail sites increased by almost two million from 2,533,000 in January to 4,366,000 in September. Despite a small number of high profile collapses in the sector, the retail category overall is on the move. Amazon.co.uk has retained the number one position in the MMXI retail category for the entire nine months. Other sites including Amazon.com, Jungle.com, BOL.com, ShopSmart.com and beeb.com have been in the top ten over the same period. However, high street retailers are becoming more popular web destinations with Argos.co.uk and WHSmith.co.uk both appearing in the top ten in September 2000. According to Mari Kim Coleman, UK Managing Director of MMXI Europe, "It is encouraging to see people going to the sites of high street retailers like Argos and WHSmith, as well as those of the well known Internet brands. This could be an indication that the UK market has reached a new level of maturity and diversity in online shopping behaviour."