The Gap, a major international clothing brand and retailer, plans to launch a worldwide shopping service on the Internet.

The Gap last year notched up sales of $6 billion in six countries. It is unclear how many countries it plans to serve or what its pricing policy will be for its trade mark casual clothing ranges.

Mr Warren Hashagen, chief financial officer, said results from the on-line store launched in the US last November had been "very, very encouraging. Our current target would be to launch (internationally) by early next year".

Hennes & Mauritz, the Swedish fashion group with stores in 10 countries, is understood to be planning to extend its domestic on-line shopping service beyond Sweden in the near future.

Although a growing number of clothing retailers are exploring opportunities for on-line stores, few have expanded outside their domestic markets. The complexity of pricing for different markets and delivering products at affordable rates and within reasonable times has deterred many companies from pursuing international Internet sales aggressively.

However, for those such as The Gap and Hennes & Mauritz, which already have a substantial international presence, on-line sales could be fulfilled from the distribution depots and warehouses which serve their stores.

The arrival of such heavyweight names to international Internet retailing is certain to make their markets more competitive, according to Mr Keith Wills, retail analyst at Goldman Sachs. "Customers are going to have access to better merchants worldwide," he said.

Forester Research, the US consultancy group, estimates retail spending on the Internet will rise from $1.8 billion last year to almost $10 billion by 2001.