Consumers are set to splash out £10,000 a second online today – already dubbed Mega Monday – amid predictions that it will be the busiest UK web shopping day of all time, with spend totalling £465m.
Last month, Experian Hitwise predicted that December 3 will see a 36% increase in traffic compared to 2011.
Visa Europe claims that £320m will be spent on its cards alone as online transactions top 6.8 million, up 21% on last year. It said: “A combination of pay day for the majority of consumers falling on the last Friday of the month and a weekend spent browsing the shops results in shoppers logging on to buy their gifts online on the subsequent Monday.
“All of these factors will result in consumers spending £222,222 per minute, making 4,722 transactions every 60 seconds.”
Visa Europe commercial director Dr Steve Perry said: “On Mega Monday, people across the UK will go online and use their Visa cards to make 6.8 million transactions, the most in a single day in UK history. That’s 21% more than in 2011, signalling that consumers are becoming increasingly accustomed to the advantages of shopping online for everyday purchases and special items, especially in the lead-up to Christmas.”
Amazon.co.uk also predicts Mega Monday to be its biggest single day, with orders set to peak at 9.20pm.
Christopher North, managing director of Amazon.co.uk, said: “December 3 could be the busiest day in the history of Amazon.co.uk, and we’re preparing for it by hiring more than 10,000 seasonal employees across our eight UK fulfilment centres.”
Argos, which expects to shift 1.5 million parcels today, has taken on an additional 12,000 staff over the Christmas period.
Marks & Spencer has recruited an additional 800 employees at its distribution centres and doubled the number of employees working in its e-commerce call centre. David Walmsley, multi-channel development director at M&S, said: “For months, we’ve been planning behind the scenes to make sure we’re fully prepared to manage the huge uplift in orders we’re expecting.
“Christmas can be a hectic time for our customers so we’ve brought in extra support in our warehouses, customer services and in stores.”
Asda Direct expects to sell 50% more products today than an average Monday and predicts CD sales will increase by 70%. Meanwhile John Lewis this weekend reported a record week for its online sales, soaring to £37.9m.
However, with one in 12 Christmas gifts failing to arrive on time last year Consumer Focus has warned shoppers who want to make sure items arrive on time to order early.
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