The shops may be shut, but it’s predicted retailers will still net more than £180m on Christmas Day – thanks to online shoppers.
Etailing trade association the IMRG predicts that consumers will spend £186.5m online on December 25, getting to bargains before the queues build up for the traditional Boxing Day sales. The following day, spenders will be out in force online as well as in the high street. IMRG predicts they will spend almost twice as much as on Christmas Day, parting with some £367.8m. If both estimates are realised, shoppers will spend 12% more than they did last year.
David J Smith, chief marketing and communications officer at IMRG, said: “The amount of money consumers spend online every Christmas Day is continuing to show double-digit growth. When you consider that the growth for the same day in 2010 was 26%, the increase is the more impressive as it is coming from a very high base.
“Although shopping on Christmas Day might not appear to quite be in the Christmas spirit, it is worth considering that many of these sales could actually be associated with popular gifts people have received, such as downloadable content for MP3 players and Kindles.”
The predicted rise in Christmas Day online shopping comes as people are expected to be using the internet both through desktops and mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. Last Christmas Day, the figures show Facebook had more site visits than Google as people logged on to wish friends a Merry Christmas.
