Online retailing is on the upswing all over the western world but in UK this trend has captured the imagination of the common man. According to research conducted by money transfer site Paypal Europe, by 2010, 6% of UK consumers will purchase goods and acquire services online. In 2005 consumers in UK bought goods worth £8.2 billion from various marketing web portals, which is up by almost 29% from the online sales achieved by portals in the year previous to this, stated Verdict, a respected market analyst. This is something which has caught fire with the proliferation of broadband, which is considerably quicker than the old dial-up services.

With the increase of consumers it is all but obvious that the number of platforms offering these services will shoot up. Now, the dilemma for the consumer is in this plethora of ‘players’, with whom should they play the game? The answer as usual is hidden somewhere in the ‘fine print’. The two things one should always be aware of are: whenever anything sounds too good to be true, it most probably isn’t and everyone in this field is here for doing business and is not your best buddy as most of these online retailers, selling almost everything under the sky, claim. The standard practice that almost all of them indulge in is offering cold cash for joining their domain and then offer cashback for the purchases made online, so far so good.

What has left the consumer exasperated is the inadvertent delays, which these portals claim are unavoidable, in paying up the cashback amount or in few cases non-payment of the ‘promised’ amount. As the complaints against the old players are rising people are increasingly looking more towards the new players who are stepping into the market with a newer outlook towards the trade and better work ethics, at least this is what the consumer thinks or wishes.

The latest entrants are expected to rise above the set benchmarks because that is the only way they will be able to survive in this highly competitive field. They are bound to offer lucrative schemes and better services because that will be the logical and practical thing to do as to establish the brand name they need to win over the trust of their potential consumer and the easiest way to achieve it would be to deliver on their promises. This simply makes business sense and business is what they are here to do.

With the recent drop in gas prices, should online retailers expect a cheery holiday sales forecast? According to the National Federation of Retailers (NRF) one-fifth of all retail sales in the United States occur during the holiday season. With the critical holiday shopping season upon us, many companies are gearing up for a busy and eventful holiday season.

Although they expect holiday sales to be "subdued" this holiday season, the NRF still expects a gain of 5 percent to $457.4 billion, which is short of last years 6.1 percent increase. But, online holiday sales will continue their fast-paced trend, with sales expected to reach 27 billion (Forrester Research, Inc.), which would represent a 23 percent increase over last year.

Another holiday season forecast by eMarketer, predicts that during November and December, online retailers will have sales figures of 24.3 billion; which is a 22.1 percent increase over last year.

However, Jupiter Research, Inc., paints an even rosier sales forecast calling for 2006 online sales to be 32 billion, which would be an increase of 18 percent over last year. Additionally, Jupiter reports a record 114 million users will shop online in 2006.

In an October survey cosponsored by Shop.org, an e-commerce arm of the NRF, and Shopzilla, which is a comparison-shopping site, it was reported that 72 percent of the online retailers expected good (15%-plus) year-over-year online sales growth this holiday season. Twenty-one percent of the retailers forecast hyper growth (75%-plus) year-over-year online sales growth.

But with all these facts, figures and forecasts, what will holiday shoppers be looking for this year? According to NRF research, gift cards continue to be big sellers and this year many stores are capitalizing on this trend by offering cards geared toward the individual's lifestyle, adding that some cards are even personalized by including photographs or a particular theme.

More "hot" gifts included in the NRF research included women's clothing, specifically, plaid and hand-knit crocheted looks in women's categories, sweater dresses, short jackets and boots. Additionally, look for diet products, gift certificates to spas or gyms, cell phones and cell phone accessories, ipods, computer gaming products and computer gifts to be very popular on the wish list for young adults and teens.

Of course, we have all heard of the new Tickle Me Elmo 10th Anniversary Edition dolls that are any child's list from age seven and under. But is the demand for this toy going to dwindle the supply down to nothing? Probably. But, Fisher-Price insists there is going to be a steady flow of product going out to the retailers. Retailers have taken steps to assure they don't run out of a product by limiting the number of an individual product that a customer can buy when that product is in short supply, with the idea being that there should be enough for everyone. But could Tickle Me Elmo winds up on ebay selling at outrageous prices because of shortages? It already has.