Online market research house
IMRG reported that 3.8 million
people spent £102m online on Christmas Day 2008. In the Christmas
run-up, online shopping was later, longer and stronger than in
2007, it said.
Christmas Day itself was now a favourite online shopping day
with consumers and retailers alike, it said. Christmas Day sales
were up 21% compared to last year, with the average sale value
rising to £26.8 per shopper from £19.09.
E-retailers that ran Christmas Day sales included Marks &
Spencer, John Lewis, Boots, Debenhams, Play.com, MandM Direct and
British Airways.
James Roper, IMRG's CEO, said, "Though the number of people
shopping on Christmas Day was 14% lower than in 2007, the volume of
transactions was 26% higher, and the value rose by 21%, indicating
that serious bargain hunting was the order of the day."
Traffic to retail websites during the run-up to Christmas 2008
was higher than the 2007 level, but transaction volumes rose even
more sharply - up 9% in November and 28% in December, according to
payments firm Secure Trading. Ticket values were down, indicating
that more people were buying lower-priced items.
Online digital research expert eDigitalResearch, confirmed this
view, adding that aggressive sale tactics from online retailers in
the run up to Christmas saw people monitoring sites for the best
deals. Traffic was up from 2007 on 22, 23 and 24 December but
almost doubled between Christmas Day and Boxing Day, which was the
busiest single day for online retailers in 2008.
"The traffic online during Christmas was heavily affected by the
sales starting early this year," comments director at
eDigitalResearch, Chris Russell. "We saw most traditional retailers
start their online sales when stores closed on Christmas Eve, with
pure play retailers starting after last delivery day deadlines were
reached. This means that the increased purchases on Christmas Day
and the huge surge in traffic on Boxing Day could have been as a
result of this."
Jon Prideaux, of SecureTrading, said, "More people are spending
but they are spending less and they hung on later before getting
out their cards. Normally, November is our biggest month, but this
year Christmas sales came later. In 2007 there was a 2% drop from
November to December as people finished their shopping in good
time. This year we saw a 15% rise.
"In the Christmas week people went crazy with an increase of a
91% in the number of transactions processed, and transaction values
were up by three quarters," he said.
But the recession is still a factor with transaction values
dropping steadily throughout the year. The average purchase size
shrank from an average spend of £92 (2007: £94) in August, to a low
of £77 (2007: £83) in December.