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Study shows broadband users flock to ecommerce sites on Boxing Day
Some 96.2 million visits to ecommerce sites were made on December 26th.
In total, Brits spent 13 million hours shopping online on December 26th 2011, with retail websites gaining 96.2 million visits throughout the day - 19.5 per cent more than at the same time last year.
The surge in ecommerce activity on Boxing Day came after a similar year-on-year increase on Christmas Day, when one in every eight online visits was made to a retail website. The number of people browsing these sites hit 62.8 million on December 25th, representing a 38 per cent increase on the total for Christmas Eve.
James Murray, marketing and research analyst at Experian Hitwise UK, said one of the contributors to these record-breaking figures is the fact Boxing Day fell on a Monday - the day when traffic to online shopping sites peaked every week during 2011.
Fashion retailers attracted a higher proportion of visits from British broadband users on Boxing Day, with the likes of Next, River Island and New Look all appearing in the top 20.
Electricals stores Currys and Comet ranked in eighth and 12th places respectively, while four department stores - John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Debenhams and House of Fraser - also made the list.
However, the league table was dominated by ecommerce heavyweights eBay and Amazon UK, which attracted 9.79 per cent and 8.56 per cent of traffic respectively. Combined, the two sites accounted for a fifth of online shopping visits on Boxing Day.
"Tesco and Tesco Direct jumped from 24th and 25th place respectively to 14th and 15th between Christmas Day and Boxing Day, perhaps as consumers wanted to spend Christmas money on gifts but also to take advantage of special offers on food and alcohol ahead of New Year's Eve," commented Mr Murray.