According to the Home and Fashion Online Retail Index, released by Transactis research group, the total amount spent by online shoppers was up by 12 percent, even in the face of economic recession.

The research comprises data from 178 retailers that represent a total of 38.5 million customers. Despite the overall decrease of 17 percent in home shopping in 2009, people have been purchasing items online, the report shows.

"A cursory glance at these figures might give the impression that consumers are abandoning the high street and big books in favor of the internet," said Dylan Jenkins, Head of Retail and Home Shopping for Transactis, said in a press release. "However, one need only look at the age and category breakdowns for these figures to realize that it's not a simple case of online versus offline."

Indeed, it does seem that online shopping. is more popular among younger and middle-aged crowds. Shoppers between the ages of 35 and 44 make up 29 percent of all online spending in 2009, though consumers between 25 and 34 are spending larger amounts online.

Shopping via the web opens a lot of opportunities to save online. When internet shopping, it's always a good idea to guard personal information by utilizing a secure payment service.