Cyber Monday meets record-breaking expectations

Friday, December 7, 2012 - 10:08 by Simon Crisp

There was never a question that Cyber Monday, which fell at the beginning of this week, would be one of the UK's busiest 24 hours periods for safe shopping online. It was simply a case of seeing how significant of an impact it would make.

Now the preliminary figures are in and Experian has revealed that sales were up by 32 per cent, year on year.

Thirty per cent of all e-commerce visits were made to just three retailers. This successful triumvirate was made up of Amazon and eBay, along with bricks and mortar retailer Argos, which has been making a major push to enhance its online presence.

Sixty two per cent of consumers chose to carry out safe shopping online at established outlets, with major retail brands backing them up, which shows that people value the reputation of a company as much as the price of products.

However, with 38 per cent using less well known or established outlets, it is clear that there is plenty of support for more independent retailers online.

In total, there were 112 million e-commerce visits made on December 3rd, with 12 per cent of these being absorbed by Amazon alone, which is a two per cent increase for the company, when compared with the same day in 2011.

Experian believes that although many people will now have completed their Christmas shopping, there should be plenty of panic buying on Christmas Eve.

This is when click and collect services will come into play, as people will be able to order online and then collect from their local store, to avoid waiting for delivery.

Most e-commerce sites should alert you to the deadline for order placement if you want pre-Christmas delivery, so check up on this when you are participating in safe shopping online.