Online winners and losers

It's been a season of weird online trading stories with some of the big players taking substantial hits on the high street and others doing phenomenally well. The one thing that can't be denied is the undoubted success of the web in this story! Below are some snippits of winners and losers in the etail environment.

Sainsbury's has announced 'exceptional' online sales growth over the Christmas period. The company said the improved etail results helped it achieve its overall £2.5bn sales target three months ahead of schedule.

Amazon was the most popular retail site over Christmas accounting for 9% of visits to all retail sites.

Shares in HMV have jumped 15% after the music and books retailer said it had a "highly successful" Christmas period. Like-for-like sales at its HMV stores in the UK and Ireland rose 14.1%, while sales at its Waterstone's bookstore chain rose 4%.

Marks and Spencers was hit by poor Christmas sales with UK like-for-like sales falling 2.2% in the last three months of 2007, however website sales were particularly healthy, up 78%.

Tesco said its online businesses had a "very successful" Christmas, with total sales up 24%, helped by strong demand for MP3 players, digital cameras and laptops.

Webs the future!