British households are the biggest online spenders in the world, according to a report. It highlights the boom in internet shopping in the UK, which has devastated high street retailers and led to a surge in delivery vans on the roads. According to trade body UK Cards Association, online spending has jumped by 28 per cent in two years. Last year households spent £154 billion online – or £422 million a day. In 2014 the total was £120 billion. And this excludes the £44 billion spent with foreign giants such as Amazon and Apple iTunes, because the transactions are processed overseas. According to the UK Cards Association, Britain has the largest e-commerce market in Europe and ranks third in the world for the total amount of online sales – behind only China and the US. This is despite China’s population of more than 1.3 billion being 20 times as big as the UK’s. But the surge in online spending has taken its toll on high street retailers, as many shops struggle to compete with online giants such as Amazon and Asos. Among the casualties have been high street chain Debenhams, which yesterday revealed plans to close up to 10 stores and several warehouses, which was partly blamed on its weak online offering. Veteran City commentator David Buik, who works for stockbroker Panmure Gordon, said, “The culture of shopping has changed completely – nobody carries cash around. People want to do it all online whether it’s buying a holiday, or watching films on Netflix. Unless retailers are putting the right stocks on their shelves at the right price they’re in trouble.” The report says consumers now go online for 23 percent of all clothing spending, while 67 percent of concert ticket spending and 61 percent of cinema, theatre and dance spending is done on the internet. Nearly four in every £10 spent on travel is paid for online, with 54 percent of spending on flights made through the Internet. Spending on entertainment accounted for one in four online card purchases. But most people still leave their homes to do their grocery shopping – with groceries making up only 7 percent of online purchases. In total, 26 percent of all card spending was online last year, up from 22 percent in 2014. Shoppers made 1.8 billion purchases online last year at an average of 150 million a month – an increase of 38 percent from 2014. Perhaps partly because it feels less painful to part with money online, the average transaction was £85 – more than double the £38 spent in store.