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UK Online Shoppers to Spend £519,000 per Minute on Boxing Day, Two-Day Sales to Reach £1.38 Billion

UK Online Shoppers to Spend £519,000 per Minute on Boxing Day, Two-Day Sales to Reach £1.38 Billion Image Credit: Samsung

Experian, the leading global information services company and Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), UK’s industry association for e-retail expect online shoppers in UK to spend £636m on Christmas Day and another £748m on Boxing Day. These figures represent a 25% increase in online transactions on Christmas compared to last year and a 29% increase on Boxing Day. On average, UK online shoppers will be spending a whopping £441,000 per minute on Christmas day and £519,000 per minute on Boxing Day. 

The online shopping frenzy during this festive season started on this year's Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend as online stores launched major sales with huge storewide discounts in the run-up to the festive season. With higher data speeds and widespread ownership of mobile devices especially Wi-Fi connected tablets and larger screen smartphones, it is not surprising that more and more people are opting to shop from home - as store browsing, price comparisions and payments are all enabled with a touch of the screen. Infact, shopping online has become so popular and so convenient that regardless of the festivity and the family gatherings that take place during Christmas and Boxing Day, most shoppers are able to sneak away and hunt for bargains and make those purchases.

According to Giles Longhurst, the General Manager Consumer Insights at Experian Marketing Services, on Black Friday this year, an astronomical £810 million is estimated to have been spent by online shoppers in UK, and marks the first time when Black Friday sales surpass the sales expected on Boxing Day. Giles expects 167 million retail site visits on Boxing Day and 142 million site visits on Christmas. He added that the sales on Manic Monday, the 8th of December also rose dramatically this year by 38% to 146 million visits compared to last year as consumers rush for the pre-Christmas delivery services on their purchases. 

Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer, at IMRG
Over recent years Boxing Day has typically been the busiest online shopping day of the year as consumers log on in search of a bargain from the comfort of their sofas. However, the festive sales started early this year with Black Friday discounts and promotions attracting a record number of online shoppers in the UK. Although we expect Boxing Day to be even bigger than last year, with online spend up around 40% year-on-year, it is unlikely to eclipse the unprecedented level of sales on Black Friday when e-retail sales reached a staggering £810 million. 

Author

Executive Editor and Telecoms Strategist at The Fast Mode | 5G | IoT/M2M | Telecom Strategy | Mobile Service Innovations 

Tara Neal heads the strategy & editorial unit at The Fast Mode, focusing on latest technologies such as gigabit broadband, 5G, cloud-native networking, edge computing, virtualization, software-defined networking and network automation as well as broader telco segments such as IoT/M2M, CX, OTT services and network security. Tara holds a First Class Honours in BSc Accounting and Finance from The London School of Economics, UK and is a CFA charterholder from the CFA Institute, United States. Tara has over 22 years of experience in technology and business strategy, and has earlier served as project director for technology and economic development projects in various management consulting firms.

Follow Tara Neal on Twitter @taraneal11, LinkedIn @taraneal11, Facebook or email her at tara.neal@thefastmode.com.

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