Historically, here in the UK at least, the electronic and gadget online marketplace has ruled the roost when it comes to consumer spending. However, according to one new survey, now it is milk and bread that are selling the most.

Statistics from the largest discount voucher code website in the UK, MyVoucherCodes, reveal that for the first time since Internet retailing took off on this side of the pond, grocery shopping has stormed past electronics in terms of consumer sales.

Put this one down to the credit crunch, I reckon, with more people now concerned about finding food cheaply than spending money they have not got on gadgets and big flat screen televisions (says the man who has just bought a new big flat screen television after his old one died in the middle of Special Victims Unit - curse you old TV!)

MyVoucherCodes reckon that consumers are being attracted to online supermarket sites "because of the exclusive offers and discounts on home delivery as well as shopping."

The research concludes that the top four online shopping sectors are:

31 percent share - online grocery shopping
25 percent share - electronic items
21 percent share - clothing and fashion
15 percent share - holidays and travel

Once it identified this upwards trend in web-based supermarket shopping, the company then commissioned further research into which supermarkets were the most popular and how much was being spent on average.

This revealed that Tesco leads the way with 44.2 percent of people saying they shopped at the retail giant, with ASDA trailing on 23.2 percent and Sainsbury’s on a meagre 11.7 percent of market share.

The average amount spent on online groceries was £53.00 per week and the North West is the region that uses online supermarkets the most, followed by the South East, London, South West and North East.

Speaking about the results the Managing Director of MyVoucherCodes says "We were amazed at the fact that supermarket sales are now beating PC’s and TV’s when it comes to online shopping and this is surely down to the fact that people are looking to find the best bargains to get them through everyday life in these tough economic times. As you would expect the supermarkets are masters when it comes to marketing and we are seeing an increase in discount and voucher codes relating to free deliveries of groceries to encourage more people to use their online services."