UK retail investors are embracing the booming market in initial public offerings and they are going online to do it, reports The Wall Street Journal Europe.

Companies providing online IPO services, such as Issues Direct and EPO.com are signing up between 300 and 700 people a week as potential investors scramble to be part of the action. Retail investors not only get access to IPO news and online registration, but the presence of such companies may also help them get a bigger slice of the IPO pie where they have traditionally lost out to institutional investors. New issuers also benefit: It's cheaper, it's faster, and most importantly it can improve the liquidity of their company's stock once listed.