Online buying hits a new peak

Bargain-hunting drives 14 per cent rise in purchases made over the web

Monday 8 December was the biggest online shopping day this year with sales reaching £320m, according to figures from the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG).

The trade body’s figures for the day, dubbed “Mega Monday”, show a rise of 14 per cent in sales in comparison to the equivalent day last year, largely due to an improvement in delivery times.

IMRG said the findings suggest that consumers are busy at the weekend researching gifts in the high street and online before purchasing via the internet on Monday.

“The ratio of researching to buying is also much greater, and researching started earlier this year, as Christmas shoppers work hard to track down the best deals,” said IMRG chief executive James Roper.

“Delivery companies are in sparkling Christmas form as most had geared up for higher volumes than they are receiving so far, so there is plenty of time left for shoppers to bag Yuletide bargains,” he said.

“We may even see next Monday being bigger still, which would be the first time ever that the third Monday in December marked the year’s peak.”

The peak in activity online benefited retailers such as Play.com, which saw an increase of more than 45 per cent in the volume of orders it processed compared to the same Monday the previous year.