A number of leading brands are proving, yet again, that despite a general downturn in sales on the High Street, on-line growth continues to be strong.

Fashion e-retailer Asos recently revealed its sales have more than doubled. The online retailer reported that sales soared 104% to £165m for the year ending March 2009. Sales in the four weeks to the end of April 24 also grew 80%.

Meanwhile, at games and video retailer Game online sales grew 85%  in the year to the end of January 2009. Online operating profits also rose to 109%. In its preliminary results for the year, Game said it achieved record sales and profits across the board, including substantial growth in its ecommerce division.

And at Argos, £1bn of web sales helped to reduce the impact of a drop in total sales of 1% at Home Retail Group, which owns Argos as well as Homebase. The internet now accounts for 26% of sales at Argos.

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Shall we go on?

While High Street business might not be so hot, online sales at M&S have reportedly increased by 34% in the year to the end of March 2009. At the same time, the giant retailer claimed its sales now account for 5.3% of the UK’s on-line clothing market, a jump of almost 1% on 2008.

So it seems that the company’s fall in pre-tax profits to £704m, down from £1bn, could have been so much worse without the on-line sales boost. For while on-line sales were up, M&S witnessed a drop in food and general merchandise sales in-store with a concluding overall sales value rise of only 0.4%, when compared to the previous year.

Yet more evidence, it seems, of the ever increasing power and worth of on-line retailing.

A new study reveals that old-fashioned word of mouth is proving a great tool for gaining sales on-line in the 21^st century.

The increased use of social media, such as mobile phones and blackberrys, as well as internet message boards, forums and blogs, makes it so much easier for people to pass on information about products and services these days.

The research in America – called “The Impact of Social Media on Purchase Behavior” – revealed that many consumers have passed on brand information found on-line, and of those questioned 60% used social media websites to share the info.

It also found that around a third of consumers would like to share their opinions about a brand or product with a representative, and 67% are likely to pass on information from a brand representative to other people.

Apparently almost three-quarters said that most of the info they passed on was positive.

Meanwhile, the same study (carried out by firm OTX on behalf of DEI Worldwide, a social media marketing agency) shows that over half of consumers believe that information from a brand representative is more valuable than what is found on a company’s website.

And some 57% of consumers are likely to take action based on information from a brand representative, such as buying a product or shopping at the retailers.

It seems that sometimes the oldest advertising techniques are still the best. The study surely offers food for thought for even the smallest on-liner retailers: go out and get texting, emailing and blogging…