HIGH-STREET retailers including Comet, HMV and Jessops, the photography chain, are selling goods on their websites at prices up to 30% lower than in their own shops.

The bargains include items set to become big sellers this Christmas, ranging from the latest Madonna album to digital cameras and DVD players.

The policy has been forced by competition from internet-only retailers that can sell products at heavily discounted prices because they do not incur the rental and staff costs of high-street stores.

In response, established retailers are trying to offer similar prices online even at the risk of taking business from their own shops. “It is a defensive move, not out of choice,” said Richard Hyman, chairman of Verdict Research, a retail consultancy.

The Sunday Times last week compared in-store prices of items at eight retailers in London and at the Bluewater shopping centre near Dartford, Kent with prices for the same items on the stores’ own websites on the same day. At four of the retailers, many products could be bought more cheaply online.

At HMV, 14 out of 20 of the most popular Christmas gifts could be bought more cheaply from the store’s website. The new Madonna CD — Confessions on a Dance Floor — was on sale in the store for £13.99. It was £9.99 (29% cheaper) when purchased online — postage and packing were free. A saving of 25% could be made on the Walking with Monsters DVD, reduced from £15.99 in store to £11.99 on the website.

“The online market is different to the high-street stores in that it is a very competitive environment and you are one click away from the next website,” said a spokesman for HMV. “For (shoppers) it is often about the price and nothing else.”

Savings of up to £70 were made on some of the latest digital cameras and camcorders by shopping online at Jessops. The Nikon Coolpix P1 camera, for example, was reduced from £349.99 to £279.99. Eight out of the 20 products sampled were cheaper on the internet. Postage and packing is free for items costing more than £75.

Symon Powell, brand development director for Jessops, said although the web accounted for just 5% of sales, the company saw it as a way of attracting more customers through promotional campaigns.

At Comet, five out of 10 items were cheaper online. Savings ranged from £5 off a Russell Hobbs toaster to £80 off a Sony home cinema system.

Simon Rigby, head of internet retailing at Comet, said some customers used the shop to test products before buying them more cheaply online.

“The web is a great place for doing research but the shop is great for actually seeing the product. Some customers will research online and then pay in store while others go to the store and then buy online.”

Research by PayPal.co.uk, an internet payments firm, backs up Rigby’s argument, finding that 26% of consumers check an item in the shops before looking online for a better deal.

Waterstone’s bookshop was last week selling 10 out of 20 titles in its chart more cheaply through its joint venture with Amazon, the internet retailer, than on the high street. These books included Small Island by Andrea Levy, which cost £3.99 plus £2.75 postage, a saving of more than £1. If more than £15 is spent, postage is free.

At Hamleys, three out of 10 prices were lower online. At the other three retailers visited — Argos, Dixons and H Samuel, the jeweller — all the online and in-store prices checked were the same.

The Royal Mail said last week it expected internet shopping to reach £5 billion this year, a rise of 40% on 2004.

The internet boom contrasts with a slowdown for some high-street chains. At Dixons, a 40% rise in internet sales could not make up for a slump in its shops. The company’s overall sales were down 2% in the six months to November 12.

John Clare, chief executive of DSG International, which owns Dixons, said the chain would not slash online prices because, he believed, much of the competition from internet-only retailers would be shortlived. “A small player may well have a cheaper product — but will consumers buy from someone they don’t know?” he said.

Despite the boom, online shopping will account for just 3.5% of total spending this Christmas, and although this is expected to increase significantly over the next decade, some experts believe the internet will mainly be used for products customers do not wish to examine closely before buying.

“CDs, books and software have gone phenomenally well on the internet,” said Hyman. “When you think of a sofa, television or hi-fi, the sampling is physical. You can’t do that on the internet.” He added that costs would begin to converge as high-street stores cut prices while some of the cheapest internet companies went bust.

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