Remember, Remember the 8th of December!

IMRG and Capgemini today announced their predictions for UK online sales for Christmas and the final quarter of 2008. Based on the trends from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, which has tracked online spending for the past seven years, a total of £13.16 billion will be spent by British shoppers in the run up to Christmas – an equivalent of £215 for every person in the UK. This represents a 15 per cent increase in year on year sales but also shows a slowdown in growth when compared to the 54 per cent year on year increase seen in 2007.

Monday 8th December looks set to be the biggest UK online shopping day of 2008, with sales worth £320 million. Forty two per cent of those sales will take place outside of traditional shopping hours, either before 9am or after 6pm. The peak shopping hour is expected to take place between 1-2pm on Monday 8th December when £28 million will be spent online during this single hour. This is double the amount spent online during the peak hour of 2006, at midday on Monday 11th December.