According to BT’s retail specialist division online sales were 45% higher than the same day last year and 163% higher than on an average day.
Shoppers took advantage of promotions by retailers and online spending broke Christmas buying records with the highest daily, hourly, and weekly traffic volumes and transactions of the year.
"Whether or not people were striking or working from home or simply unable to get to work because of the industrial action it seems many decided November 30 was a good time to do their Christmas shopping online," said Richard Vining, head of performance for BT Fresca.
Online shopping the week before Christmas was also high, which in the past has been avoided by many online shoppers due to worries about delivery before Christmas day.
"In 2011, there were a number of peaks in orders instead of just one as in previous years. It’s striking that the week leading up to Christmas, historically a ‘no-go’ area for online Christmas shopping, is now coming into its own. Even as late as December 20, order volumes were still high, at least as high as the beginning of November. This is in part due to sharper delivery strategies, giving customers confidence their orders would arrive before the big day," added Vining.
Compared for the Christmas period in 2010, the Christmas period in 2011 rose 46%.
Eugene Kaznacheev, product manager at shopping cart software company Ecwid said that online purchasing is becoming a leading method of shopping for consumers.
"It is encouraging to see the continued growth in e-commerce. Online is becoming the preferred channel for the majority of people."
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