Online sales in December were 30 per cent up year-on-year, and the last week before Christmas saw almost double the sales compared with last year, according to MetaPack’s eTracker.
Relatively mild weather and good parcel carrier performance ensured the online shopping peak was sustained for a much longer period, remaining high right up until Christmas Eve. Christmas week commencing 19th December was up 97 per cent year on year.
Claire Biggs, MetaPack marketing manager said: “We have seen the hours of operation for online retailers increase significantly over the years with despatches occurring right up until and past Christmas Day. This indicates that not only are people buying gifts online but also making use of quieter working days to make their own purchases, with sectors like sports & leisure and electrical seeing a good portion of the sales.”
Sales started early, and consumer spending continued through the Christmas period so that many retailers continued despatching new orders on Christmas Eve, including Aurora Fashions, Jack Wills, ASDA, Kurt Geiger, Missguided, Tesco Fashion, Sports Direct, JD SPORTS, Debenhams Direct and Asos.
Two of the country’s largest retailers had their peak despatch days after Christmas, following a huge build up over orders on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
