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'Mega Monday' of shopping predicted to be 11% bigger than 'Cyber Monday' by industry body and payments provider

'Mega Monday' of shopping predicted to be 11% bigger than 'Cyber Monday' by industry body and payments provider

 

Online trade association, IMRG is predicting that so-called 'Mega Monday' this year will fall on 6 December.

 

Figures from Retail Decisions (ReD) suggest that hourly online retail sales between 12 and 1pm of this day will peak at £23.2 million.

 

This coming Monday, 29 November, has become known as 'Cyber Monday' in the US. This is the day that follows Thanksgiving (25 November) and marks the unofficial launch of Christmas shopping. This will be a busy day for online retailers in the UK too, but The IMRG/ReD analysis shows that Monday 6 December will have the highest sales of the year.

 

The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index has tracked the data from many of the major retailers in the UK over the last 10 years. While figures provided by payment fraud prevention and payment processing provider, ReD, reveal that over the past two years, sales on Mega Monday have been 11-12% higher than those on Cyber Monday.

 

Online convenience surges

 

Carl Clump, chief executive 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 12 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 £12.4 billion.”