Rising gas prices may directly correlate with increased ecommerce sales.

High gasoline prices typically result in consumers consolidating shopping trips, shopping closer to home and making fewer trips to brick-and-mortar locations, according to Multichannel Merchant.

"We've seen the ecommerce channel benefiting somewhat from this trend," Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis for MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse (MCASP), told the media outlet.

MCASP is a report that tracks national retail services in sales. It declared in a recent press release that through February, ecommerce posted its fifth consecutive month of double-digit growth, rising by 13.2 per cent.

The news source notes that ecommerce sales increased even more in March, up to 16.1 per cent.

According to CNN, gas prices in the U.K. currently sit at £3.55 per gallon, or US$5.79. Many European nations tax gasoline heavily, with taxes making up as much as 75 per cent of the cost of a gallon.

As of April 4, the price of regular grade gasoline in the U.S. was $3.68 per gallon, an eight-cent increase from one year ago, the Energy Information Administration reports. Given the similarly high gasoline rate in Great Britain, it would not be surprising if U.K. shoppers increased ecommerce spending as well.