Amazon predicts record sales on Christmas Day
Amazon.co.uk is expecting its busiest Christmas Day ever this year as it plans to launch its Boxing Day sale on Christmas Day for the second year in a row.
The online retail giant has also revealed that sales on 25 December have grown by more than fivefold over the past five years as the big day becomes increasingly popular for online shopping.
This year, Amazon is predicting that Christmas Day orders will peak at 8.32pm as customers start their sales shopping while watching Christmas specials on TV. It is also forecasting a rush of gift card sales earlier in the day at 10am as people log on to the site to buy the cards as last minute presents.
Amazon anticipates that the most popular time for digital downloads will be noon when people begin using their new gadgets after opening their presents. Overall sales on the site are then expected to dip at around 3pm as the nation makes time to watch The Queen’s speech.
Never Miss a Retail Update!“The trends that emerge during the course of day give us a fascinating insight into how the nation spends Christmas Day,” said Xavier Garambois, vice president of EU retail at Amazon. “The increased availability of home broadband and growth in shopping on tablets and smartphones means that it’s more convenient than ever to pick up a last minute gift card or a bargain in the sales.”
Meanwhile, Experian has predicted that UK shoppers are set to spend 45 million hours shopping online over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
The global information services firm expects UK consumers to make 117 million visits to retail websites on Christmas Day and 118 million visits on Boxing Day. In addition, the firm says the UK is on course to make over 3 billion visits to retail websites in December 2013, the first time this will ever have happened in a single month.
