According to the report efforts at moving toward online shopping had been undertaken in a way so as to minimise cannibalising sales from traditional retail operations.

“In other words, the move into online retailing by some appears to be an attempt to protect market share from competitive online sellers and other competitors rather than expanding their business,” the report reads.

As a result of this approach online sales accounted for just 0.2 per cent of all retail sales for Myer and 0.1 per cent of sales for David Jones in 2009-10. JB Hi Fi — which has a relatively advanced online retail offering — had just 1.3 per cent over the same period.

Citing Australian Bureau of Statistics data the report however did note that the use of the internet by retail establishments to place and receive orders was growing relative to the wider business sector.