The IMRG Capegemini e-Retail Sales Index has said that online sales have doubled year-on-year to January 2016.

In 2015, online sales saw an increase of seven per cent, however they saw a spike of 15 per cent this January, reports Logistics Manager.

Tina Spooner, CEO of IMRG, said: "The latest index results reveal a strong start to the year for the UK online retail industry, with annual growth reaching the second-highest rate recorded over the past 14 months."

Ms Spooner believes that a driver of this increase can be attributed to a "knock-on effect of Black Friday [which] continued into the early part of 2015".

She added that "sales made on smartphones in January also increased significantly - up 96 per cent year-on-year. Smartphone sales last year during the same period increased by only 26 per cent".

Richard Tremellen, retail insight and data specialist at Capgemini, stated that "the retail sector will be relieved to see such impressive results" and that the increase in sales was "a strong indication that consumer confidence is continuing to grow".