By . Jill Reilly . PUBLISHED: . 11:15 EST, 1 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:15 EST, 2 January 2013 . Losses: Online shopping could led to 50,000 job losses on the high street according to experts . Online shopping could led to 50,000 job losses on the high street according to experts. Consumers swapping shops for ordering goods on smart phones and tablets has led to a 20 percent increase in online shopping. CRR director Professor Joshua Bamfield told The Mirror: 'By March, we expect 4,000 to 5,000 stores to close due to . competition from online retail, with an acceleration in chains closing . stores to focus more on online operations. "Companies previously said, 'we don't . expect each store to make money every year'. But now they're saying, 'if . a store's not making money, we'll close it'. The prediction means that closures and redundancies could be occurring as soon as March. This year Christmas spending got off to a slow start in early December, but trading improved in the latter part of the month. The post-Christmas sales saw a  £10.4billion spending spree, but the festive period has seen the shortest January sales rush. The British Retail Consortium said it expected a number of well-known chains to collapse after failing to make enough money over Christmas. Sales: While thousands of shoppers queued outside stores up and down the country to get ahead of the game, millions more made the most of tumbling prices from the comfort of their own homes shopping online . 'At this time of year there will be some retailers for whom the sums don't add up, and it will be a challenge,' said Mandy Murphy of the BRC told the Guardian. She warned that the first figures for December trading are likely to make difficult reading for retailers. Boxing Day set a new British record for the number of shoppers who went online figures showed. While thousands of shoppers queued . outside stores up and down the country to get ahead of the game, . millions more made the most of tumbling prices from the comfort of their . own homes. Britons . spent 14 million hours trawling websites paying around 113 million . visits to online retailers on what became the UK's biggest day for . internet shopping, analysts said. Growing: Last week John Lewis revealed that their online sales are growing at 40 per cent a year . Web sales were up by 17 per cent on Boxing Day last year, according to market data firm Experian. Figures were slightly lower than the 126 million online visits predicted for Boxing Day, something experts attributed to a 'sales creep' which saw retailers begin to slash prices before Christmas. Last week John Lewis revealed that their online sales are growing at 40 per cent a year. The department store, which started it’s online sale on Christmas Eve, said that increasingly their customers were visiting stores and shopping online.
20 percent increase in the number of consumers shopping online .
Closures and redundancies could be occurring as soon as March .
Boxing Day set a new British record for the number of online shoppers .
By . Jill Reilly . PUBLISHED: . 11:15 EST, 1 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:15 EST, 2 January 2013 . Losses: Online shopping could led to 50,000 job losses on the high street according to experts . Online shopping could led to 50,000 job losses on the high street according to experts. Consumers swapping shops for ordering goods on smart phones and tablets has led to a 20 percent increase in online shopping. CRR director Professor Joshua Bamfield told The Mirror: 'By March, we expect 4,000 to 5,000 stores to close due to . competition from online retail, with an acceleration in chains closing . stores to focus more on online operations. "Companies previously said, 'we don't . expect each store to make money every year'. But now they're saying, 'if . a store's not making money, we'll close it'. The prediction means that closures and redundancies could be occurring as soon as March. This year Christmas spending got off to a slow start in early December, but trading improved in the latter part of the month. The post-Christmas sales saw a  £10.4billion spending spree, but the festive period has seen the shortest January sales rush. The British Retail Consortium said it expected a number of well-known chains to collapse after failing to make enough money over Christmas. Sales: While thousands of shoppers queued outside stores up and down the country to get ahead of the game, millions more made the most of tumbling prices from the comfort of their own homes shopping online . 'At this time of year there will be some retailers for whom the sums don't add up, and it will be a challenge,' said Mandy Murphy of the BRC told the Guardian. She warned that the first figures for December trading are likely to make difficult reading for retailers. Boxing Day set a new British record for the number of shoppers who went online figures showed. While thousands of shoppers queued . outside stores up and down the country to get ahead of the game, . millions more made the most of tumbling prices from the comfort of their . own homes. Britons . spent 14 million hours trawling websites paying around 113 million . visits to online retailers on what became the UK's biggest day for . internet shopping, analysts said. Growing: Last week John Lewis revealed that their online sales are growing at 40 per cent a year . Web sales were up by 17 per cent on Boxing Day last year, according to market data firm Experian. Figures were slightly lower than the 126 million online visits predicted for Boxing Day, something experts attributed to a 'sales creep' which saw retailers begin to slash prices before Christmas. Last week John Lewis revealed that their online sales are growing at 40 per cent a year. The department store, which started it’s online sale on Christmas Eve, said that increasingly their customers were visiting stores and shopping online.
percent increase in online shopping. CRR director could be occurring as soon as March. This year retailers. Boxing Day set a new British record for the number of shoppers who went online stores and shopping online.