Online sales of non-grocery products increased 14.3 per cent taking the total online share of retail sales to 17.5 per cent, according to the British Retail Consortium KPMG sales monitor.
The increase of 0.7 per cent across the whole retail market indicates that sales would have fallen if not for the support of online revenue.
Online shopping has received a boost over the past year as more consumers research and shop on mobile devices and as retailers make their sites more mobile friendly. February's increase was an acceleration on same month last year when sales increased 15.4 per cent, although slower than the three month average rise of 17.8 per cent to the end of February.
Helen Dickinson, director general of the British Retail Consortium, said: 'Online sales continued to show strong growth in February for what is generally a relatively quiet, mid-season month.'
KPMG's head of retail David McCorquodale said: 'After suffering one of the wettest winters on record it’s perhaps unsurprising that shoppers preferred to shop from the sanctuary of their sofas in February. Online played a crucial role this month, and without internet sales, non-food sales would have fallen into negative territory.'
Online sales were in part buoyed by a 23.6 per cent increase in clothing spending.
Barcalycard, which tracks around half of spending on cards including retail, leisure and travel including fuel, said at the weekend that consumer spending rose 2 per cent.
Barclaycard suggested a lower figure for online spending which it said increased by 8.6 per cent to 24.2 per cent of spending. While spending at shops was flat.
Barclaycard said that real wages were not improving and that, after a flush of confidence over summer last year when they began to reduce savings levels, consumers were once again holding back to save for treats and special occasions.
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