IMRG predicts e-commerce Christmas boom
IMRG has predicted that e-retailers will see their busiest day on December 6 – leading to a boom for express operators worldwide. The UK’s industry association for e-retail dubbed December 6 “Mega Monday”, with figures from Retail Decisions (ReD) suggesting that hourly online retail sales between noon and 1pm will peak at £23.2m.
Today (November 29), has been labelled “Cyber Monday” in the US, marking the unofficial launch of Christmas shopping.
Today is a busy day for online retailers in the UK too, but IMRG analysis shows that December 6 will have the highest sales of the year.
Through the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, the association has tracked the data from many of the major retailers in the UK over the last 10 years. This provides accurate industry trends and developments in the market. Figures provided by ReD, the payment fraud prevention and payment processing body, reveals that over the past two years, sales on Mega Monday have been 11-12% higher than those on Cyber Monday.
Carl Clump, CEO of ReD, said: “ReD’s online retailers had their busiest day last year on 7 December, with sales up 11% versus Monday 30 November 2009. The same trend was replicated in 2008. The simple fact is that consumers seem to shop after they have been paid at the end of the month and therefore Monday 6 December will be the year’s busiest day for shopping online. The busiest online shopping hour is expected to be between noon and 1pm, with people taking advantage of their lunch breaks to search for Christmas gifts online.”
David Smith, managing director of IMRG, said: “The first Monday of December has traditionally been the busiest online shopping day. Indications from our Index are that this will be the case again, with all the biggest online retailers agreeing from what they have seen of consumer behaviour. We estimate that over half a billion will be spent online on Sunday 5 and Monday 6 December. Total online spend for the Christmas period covering November and December is anticipated to be £12.4bn.”
