Boxing Day meets expectations and tops Christmas online shopping period

Tuesday, December 31, 2013 - 11:33 by Graham Miller

On December 26th in the UK a total of 129 million visits to sites offering shopping online were made by consumers, according to figures published by Experian.

This is an annual increase of 15 per cent and a clear indication that people love heading online and spending some cash in the afterglow of Christmas.

On December 25th itself, there were still an impressive 114 million e-commerce visits carried out, so while this may not translate directly into individual sales, a lot of money was still made online.

Brits spent a combined period of 17 million hours carrying out safe shopping online on Boxing Day, while factoring this in with e-commerce activities on Christmas Day and Christmas Eve brings the total to 44.3 million hours, according to The Drum.

A significant proportion of the search terms entered into popular engines like Google during this period included the word 'sales,' which is an indication of the kinds of bargains that consumers were seeking.

This is also representative of the growing trend for retailers to start discounting products earlier than normal rather than waiting until the new year.

The pressure being put on the high street by online retail has resulted in some drastic action, but of course e-commerce can easily shift towards offering its own sales and keep pace with bricks and mortar prices.

Experian spokesperson, James Murray, said that Boxing Day was a major period for people spending Christmas money and gift cards, as well as using e-commerce site to arrange the return or exchange of unwanted gifts.

He also said that Boxing Day has become a major sales landmark, which means that prices are slashed and people can get good deals on popular products. But in the modern climate, even Christmas Day is being seen as a key date for retail.