“The only way we Brits can enjoy the nation’s favorite leisure activity, shopping, on Christmas Day is online,” said James Roper, IMRG CEO. “So it is hardly surprising that millions of us now do a spot of Yuletide bargain hunting, especially as an online shopping trip can take five minutes or less, as opposed to a half-day traipse downtown.”
Online travel shopping is estimated to be up, too.
”With the whole family together, there’s no better time to jump on the Web to research or book that next holiday,” said John Bevan of lastminute.com. “We recorded 20% more bookings and 22% more traffic on Christmas Day 2006 than on Christmas Day 2005, and expect even more people to visit the site and book a holiday this year.”
IMRG projects that total UK Christmas e-retail sales (Q4 2007) will reach £17.6 billion, an 82% increase over the £9.6 billion recorded for the same period in 2006.
