UK’s online retailers prepare for record breaking Cyber Monday
CHRISTMAS is expected to result in the biggest day in online retailers’ history this year, with visits to shopping websites due to top 100m for the first time.
Retailers have flagged Monday 3 December – dubbed “Cyber Monday” as the most intense day of Christmas shopping this year.
This is down to a combination of a majority of consumers seeing pay packets come in on the Friday before, and people window shopping over the weekend.
Research firm Experian is predicting 115m visits to retail websites on the day, a 36 per cent increase on the busiest Christmas day of last year, and 15m hours spent shopping during the day.
Last year’s Cyber Monday saw 85m hits to online retail sites, with 28 per cent of those to Amazon and eBay, according to Experian.
Visa – which handles around £1 in every £3 spent in the UK – said yesterday it was expecting a 21 per cent increase in online spending on 3 December, with £320m spent using Visa cards alone. John Lewis said it expects technology products – such as Apple’s new iPad mini – to be the biggest-selling items.
Experian’s James Murray said 2012 would outstrip last year “on all fronts”.
“This will be the peak of pre-Christmas shopping in the UK so marketers need to make sure their campaigns are in place to maximise traffic on Cyber Monday,” he added.
John Lewis’s Peter Ruis said that online shopping now accounts for a quarter of the retail giant’s trade.
The company said on Monday that it had seen online sales rise by just under a third year-on-year last week, partially driven by an increase in shopping on smartphones and tablets.