Christmans Shopping - Online Trends 2009

With 30th November being billed as Mega Monday – 2009's busiest online shopping day, we take a look at some of the online retail stats published so far this year…

Mega Monday
Visa Europe claim that customers will go online earlier than previous years, and that Monday 30th November will be the year’s busiest online shopping day. They are predicting that 4.5 million purchases will be made, with lunch time and after 7pm being the trading peaks.

But which Monday?
However last year the IMRG Capgemini retail index found that in the UK, 9th December was the busiest day for most online retailers, with retailers like Firebox and Boden claiming their busiest shopping days in the same week. Based on these previous trend figures, UK predictions seem to favor Monday 7th December with an additional peak on the 14th.

The USA & Black Friday
In the USA, online retail sales have already peaked with ‘Black Friday’ – the day after Thanksgiving where thoughts turn to Christmas gift buying and retailers use special Black Friday promotions to take advantage of consumer willingness to spend. Figures released by Comscore put the value of Black Friday (27th November) at $595 million – an 11% increase on 2008 figures.

Online spend to reach £8.9billion
Whether e-retail spend peaks on 30 November or later in December, the UK retail industry is united by the fact that they are expecting online spend to be the highest ever. The Centre for Retail Research estimates UK Christmas spend to reach £8.9billion – accounting for 20% of the total Christmas spend.

93% plan to spend online
Similarly eDigitalResearch and IMRG have published figures showing that 93% of people surveyed plan to shop online for Christmas gifts with 71% looking to buy more than half of their gift lists via the internet.

German market worth EUR29billion
The story is similar across Europe; with 192business strengthening German Identity Verification comes news from TNS Infratest which puts Germany’s online and mail order spend for 2009 at EUR 29billion.

Customers confident to spend more online
And it’s not all about volume – the 2009 Consumer eTail Report from GSI Commerce claims that a quarter of people are willing to spend more than £1000 on a single product online. In addition fewer customers will cap their online spending – only 32% of people said they would not spend anymore than £250 online, compared to 48% in 2008, perhaps showing greater consumer confidence in online security and fulfilment?

And for those people who actually want to go to the shops? Most people seem in agreement that Wednesday 23rd December will be the best day for fighting over the last parking space in your local high street!