While high-street shoppers are looking to trim back their Christmas spending, retailers will get some cheer from a moderate rise in web spending as Britons flock online to spend millions in their lunchtimes.
According to findings from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, UK shoppers will spend £13.16bn online in the last quarter of 2008 — a 15 percent year-on-year increase.
Although online growth will offset static spending in stores, it's a drop on the 54 percent year-on-year online sales growth that retailers enjoyed last year.
The researchers forecast £1.2m will be spent on apparel in the period — a growth of 25 percent on last year — while alcohol sales will reach £233m, £24m of which will be spent in the first week of December alone.
The researchers said Monday 8 December will be the biggest UK online shopping day before the holiday, notching up sales worth £320m, with over 40 percent of sales made out of office hours. However, the peak shopping hour is expected at between 1pm and 2pm, in which time £28m will be spent.
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While the e-Retail Sales Index is bullish about online Christmas shopping, a Deloitte survey of 1,000 shoppers found consumers will be spending less as a group and diverting spend to activities at home. Grocers should fare well, as shoppers stock up on party foods rather than dining out.
Deloitte head of retail Tarlok Teji told ZDNet UK sister site silicon.com: "This year, the number of people expecting to go online to shop hasn't gone up significantly, suggesting last year was when the channel matured. However, those that do will have a higher average spend than those shopping on the high street. People are obviously comfortable with shopping online now."
