UK supermarket giant Tesco says it is creating 7,000 new jobs this year with a huge expansion of its home shopping service.

The group says it will triple the number of stores offering internet shopping after research showed "enormous demand" for Tesco Direct.

The new jobs will be a mixture of full and part-time and will include delivery and in-store work.

The number of Tesco stores accepting online orders will increase from 100 to 300 and the group says they will cover 90% of the country within a year.

About 4,000 customers already order goods from Tesco on the internet every day, generating annual sales of £125m.

There are 250,000 registered online customers, which Tesco says makes it the world's biggest internet groceries retailer.

The group says Tesco Direct will have the capacity to serve more than a million customers across the country by the end of the year.

'Exciting venture'

Tesco's chief executive Terry Leahy said: "The growth of e-commerce over the last year proved the enormous demand from our customers for this exciting venture.

"The existing internet home shopping service is already making money and we expect it to grow."

Tesco currently employs 170,000 workers at almost 650 stores.

The group also announced plans to expand non-food online services, such as sales of books, clothing, gifts, furnishings and banking during the course of this year.

Managers are to take part in online 'customer panels' to find out what people want from the service, Tesco said.

Carolyn Bradley, Tesco's e-commerce director, said: "The new, rapidly developing technology involved in internet shopping means we are constantly learning and the best way to do this is by talking to our customers."

The company currently charges £5 for delivering goods.