Merry Clickmas: UK shoppers splashed £24bn online over festive season
Christmas shoppers in the UK filled their carts with more than £24bn in online spending over the festive season, fresh data has revealed.
The seasonal bonanza, which was up 3.7 per cent on the previous year, took the UK’s total online spending for 2023 up to £111.2bn. This is according to data from Adobe Digital Insights, which tracked purchases from November 1 to December 31.
Shoppers were most likely to shell out on the key discount days, including Black Friday, which saw customers spend a total of £1.04bn, up 4.1 per cent on 2022.
Cyber Monday saw a total spend of £881m, a 7.4 per cent rise year-on-year; while the advent of Boxing Days prompted a £461.8m spend, a 4.4 per cent increase on 2022.
Brits spent £3.3bn using Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) over the festive season, taking the total annual amount spent using BNPL to £16.8bn, which is a 12.7 per cent increase year-on-year.
Analyst Vivek Pandya said: “After a slow start to 2023, our data shows spend accelerating towards the end of the year, peaking over the holiday period to end the year on a high.”
He added: “Overall, online spending grew by 3.7 per cent in 2023, compared with 2022, but much of this growth is propped up by deep discounting from retailers and growth in the use of BNPL services showing consumers are still keeping a close eye on their finances.”
Londoners spent £3.5bn online during the final two months of the year, which marked a 5.8 per cent increase when compared to 2022.