Online clothing sales are set to overtake in-store sales next year, according to a new report.

Digital fashion sales were up £2.7 billion during the pandemic, despite total clothing transactions falling by £9.6 billion, according to the report from Retail Economics and Eversheds Sutherland.

The pandemic has sped up the growth of online fashion retail, which had previously been expected to overtake physical clothing stores in 2025, as reported by Retail Gazette.

Britain is now set to be the first country in Europe where most clothing is bought online, with the Netherlands expected to follow in 2025.

In the UK, more than a third of UK shoppers surveyed said they would not go shopping as often as they did before Covid-19, compared with a quarter in the rest of Europe.

Analysts have warned that high street fashion retailers risk a £14.5 billion dent in sales by the middle of the decade without support to offset the trend.