Statistics produced by HitWise for Australia's largest online retail store, DealsDirect.com.au have revealed that an increasing number of men are shopping on the website and more and more of these are over 55 years of age.

Over a 12 week period ending August 2007, an astounding 60.63% of men used DealsDirect.com.au to purchase a range of goods from homewares, to CDs, tools, perfume and toys. This compares with 39.37% of female shoppers using the site.

And while men of all ages are turning to the internet to solve their shopping dilemmas, DealsDirect.com.au reports that those over 55 years are using their site more - a record 34.27%.

This age group is followed by 24.32% of men aged 45 - 54, 23.49% of men aged 35-44, 13.69% of men aged 25 - 34 and 4.22% of younger men aged 18 -24 years.

Geographically, more people in the Eastern States shop on the web, with NSW leading the way with 36%, followed by Queensland (22%), Victoria (19%), then WA (9%), SA (7%), Tasmania (4%) and NT (1%).

HitWise also reports that over a four week period ending August 2007, DealsDirect.com.au outranks all other internet retailers in the Shopping & Classifieds Department Store Category, with a huge 25.87% market share. This is 16.73% ahead of its nearest rival.

DealsDirect.com.au co-founder, Paul Greenberg says the online retail store has been tracking the rise of online shoppers for some time because its growing appeal to all people, but particularly men, is that it is hassle-free and extremely price competitive.

"They have discovered the convenience of being able to shop when it suits them, at any time of the day or night. They are not having to worry about parking, queues, waiting around outside changing rooms, they don’t have to lug shopping parcels to and from the car and they know they are getting bargain prices on the same range of goods that they would find in any retail store," Mr Greenberg said.

"We are confident these figures will grow even more as shoppers who value their time and want to take the chore out of shopping discover sites like DealsDirect.com.au," he added.