Boxing Day 2012 saw a record-breaking 24 hours for online retail in the UK. A staggering 113 million visits were made to retail websites on 26 December; £400 million was spent. Online sales in December 2012 were up 17.8 per cent on the previous year.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) director-general Helen Dickinson said of the Christmas period: “Online was the stand-out performer, showing its highest rate of growth this year. Shoppers are increasingly taking advantage of the convenience that online shopping offers at every stage of the customer journey, from comparing prices to reserving and collecting in-store.”
Successful e-retailers have credited online-only promotions and increased investment in their websites – particularly around security – for these encouraging figures.