More people are shopping online on Christmas day, with Boxing Day forecast to rival Black Friday for sales, according to a new report.
The projected online visit and spend figures on online retail sites in the UK for Christmas Day and Boxing Day from Experian and IMRG suggest festive spending will continue to rise.
• Christmas Day: £636m (£441K per minute) estimated spend and 142 million retail site visits (25% increase compared to 2013)
• Boxing Day: £748m (£519K per minute) estimated spend and 167 million retail site visits (29% increase compared to 2013
Insights are taken from the combined datasets of Hitwise, Experian`s online competitive intelligence tool, and the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index using historical data and trends to make estimated predictions for 2014.
Giles Longhurst, General Manager Consumer Insight at Experian Marketing Services commented: “This year has seen record breaking online shopping rates, particularly on Black Friday, which saw an astronomical £810 million in estimated spend due to the massive resources put behind promotions by a wide range of retailers. Traditionally, the Boxing Day sales have been the busiest day for retailers in the UK, but this year we expect them to come second to Black Friday, with a spend of £748 million and 167 million retail site visits predicted, an increase of 29 per cent on last year.
“The ease of shopping online via connected devices also raises the prospect of a very large amount of shopping activity on Christmas Day itself. We expect a 25 per cent growth on last year in the number of site visits to 142 million as shoppers slip away from families to do some additional bargain hunting on the big day, with a corresponding spend of £636 million.
“Retailers need to be increasingly switched on to the fact that shopping is changing. Firstly, consumers are happy to leave online shopping later in the festive season, with a growth of 24 per cent to 149 million visits to retail sites on Manic Monday – the 8th December – and also a big 38 per cent jump on 15th December to 146 million visits as they push pre-Christmas delivery services to the limit. Secondly, online shopping is now a leisure activity for customers, with many enjoying browsing and hunting for deals when they have a few minutes. This is where the importance of accurate cross-channel communications can really come in to play, letting customers know about promotions and offers and really cutting through the noise to drive interest and traffic.”
Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer, at IMRG said: “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.
“A recent survey of IMRG’s members found that 70% of e-retailers offered discounts and promotions over Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend and we are likely to see a higher number launching sales over Christmas and Boxing Day, with some going into sale as soon as their High Street shops close their doors on Christmas Eve.”