Shoppers cool on supermarkets

NEARLY ONE-THIRD of shoppers said they had become less loyal to a chosen supermarket during the past 12 months, according to an annual survey conducted by Gresham Computing.

Half of the 1,000 consumers questioned said they found the weekly shop a chore - 60 per cent of those with children. Gresham said 46 per cent would like to shop for groceries over the Internet.

It estimated online retail sales in the UK at pounds 230m in 1998, and predicted they would rise to pounds 3.1bn in 2003.