By Laura Cummings BBC News Online business reporter

Some shoppers who escaped the crowds by ordering presents online have discovered their goods will not arrive in time for Christmas.

Internet shoppers have complained that orders placed weeks ago have not materialised and are now unlikely to beat the Christmas deadline.

I couldn't take the risk, so had to cancel the order and find a shop that stocked it Andy Pandini

Analysts say the fault does not always lie with the online company and can also be blamed on an inefficient postal or shipping service.

But at a time when latest consumer confidence figures from research group Gfk suggest a sharp slump in sentiment, online groups cannot afford to let people down.

Too big a risk

Andy Pandini told BBC News Online that he placed a Christmas order with Amazon on 10 December. But despite an estimated delivery time of two to three days, Mr Pandini's order had still not arrived 10 days later.

Around Christmas it's not really sensible to do anything that depends on the post Hilary Cook, Barclays

"I e-mailed them and they apologised, but were very non-committal about whether I would actually have the MP3 player by Christmas.

"I couldn't take the risk, so had to cancel the order and find a shop that stocked it."

Mr Pandini is not alone. Andrew Brennan told BBC News Online that he was forced to cancel an order because "despite ordering presents with a 'Christmas delivery guarantee' ", the items had still not been despatched by this weekend.

No-one from Amazon was available for comment.

Postal challenge

However, it is often at the delivery stage that problems occur.

Retail analyst Hilary Cook at Barclays said a large number of online purchases were dependent on the postal service.

We have been working with the industry all year to not let people down at Christmas IMRG

"It's a challenge for them. Around Christmas it's not really sensible to do anything that depends on the post," cautioned Ms Cook.

"Internet retailers had better hope that Crozier (Royal Mail's new chief executive) does a good job."

Annual event

Despite the hiccups, online retailers are undoubtedly stealing a march on the High Street.

Retail group IMRG said earlier this month that sales broke the �1bn ($1.6bn) mark last month and have nearly doubled in the last year.

A spokesman for IMRG told BBC News Online: "Things will occasionally go wrong , but it's not common.

"We have been working with the industry all year to not let people down at Christmas."

A survey from the research group Martin Hamblin Gfk suggests it is crucial not to disappoint shoppers in the current climate.

Gfk's consumer confidence barometer slipped unexpectedly in December to its lowest level since September 2001.

"It is believed that increased speculation of a crash in the housing market, coupled with the very real threat of war with Iraq have contributed to this month's sharp fall of confidence," said Gfk.