Four million Brits went online shopping on Christmas Day

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 9 Jan 2009 at 15:06

Almost four million Britons bought goods online on Christmas Day, spending £102 million, or 21% more than on the same day last year.

The number of people shopping - 3.8 million - was down 14% on 2007, however, signalling online retailing is not immune to the economic downturn, according to figures from the IMRG.

But the volume of transactions was 26% higher, "indicating that serious bargain hunting was the order of the day," says IMRG Chief Executive James Roper.

Retailers conducting sales on Christmas Day included Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Debenhams.

Separate data from online digital research experts eDigitalResearch showed Britons left gift shopping late and were monitoring sites for the best deals right up to Christmas Day, with traffic up from 2007 on 22, 23 and 24 December.

Traffic leapt almost 100% between Christmas Day and Boxing Day, which was the busiest single day for online retailers in 2008, as shoppers looked to bag the best bargains from clearance sales without having to queue in the cold.