Christmas e-commerce sales predicted to grow

Category: Ecommerce

November 11th 08, 13:52

Online sales in the UK will grow by 15 per cent this Christmas compared with last year, according to the latest IMRG and Capgemini report.

The two companies said that they expected British consumers to spend almost £13.2 billion on items online in the last quarter of 2008, with growth to be driven by the clothing, footwear and accessories category.

E-commerce website owners may also want to prepare for the peak of this online activity on December 8th, when shoppers are expected to splash out a collective £320 million on online purchases.

IMRG chief executive James Roper highlighted the fact that, despite the downturn, consumers are expected to spend more than £1 billion online every week in the period immediately preceding Christmas.

He said: "The internet is well established as one of consumers' most powerful economic weapons against tough times."

Research firm eMarketer predicted earlier this year that e-commerce sales are likely to approach the £60 billion mark by the end of 2008.

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