Underground Internet economy poses threat to credit crunch shoppers

Verdict Research has published a report which suggests that the credit crunch is benefiting web-based businesses as consumers in the UK flock to the Internet in search of money saving bargains. With £15bn ($30bn) spent online by UK consumers in the last 12 months, according to the research, this equates to a rise of 33 percent over the previous year and interestingly also represents an increase some ten times faster that the same period for the overall retail sector. Online retail in the UK, says Verdict, will grow to £45bn ($90bn) within just four years or around 14 percent of the total amount of money being spent by UK consumers. But in the rush to beat the credit crunch, are consumers overlooking the fact that there are those who would seek to turn their profit seeking into misery?