I read a staggering statistic over the weekend: in the U.S. it is estimated that out of every $1 spent online shopping, 43 cents is spent on Amazon.

No wonder CEO Jeff Bezos's wealth has skyrocketed to over a cool $100 billion.

This got me thinking about my own spending habits, through the eyes of a consumer rather than a markets participant analyzing monthly retail sales and wage data. It dawned on me that with my own online shopping, it is true that almost half of everything I have bought online has been on Amazon — be it last minute gifts, household appliances, pantry staples, Amazon Kindle and piano books, and gadgets I clearly don't need.

I have been known to buy "topper uppers" to get to the £20 minimum Amazon requires for local delivery (the low being a heart-shaped egg mold because everyone needs one of those. I panicked).

We read so much about the death of street shopping but we are invariably all playing a part having become time-deprived bargain hunters. Online shopping is often cheaper and most definitely faster than bricks-and-mortar. Many e-commerce stores now offer free delivery and returns as sweeteners.