Cyber Monday breaks online UK shopping records

Monday December 3rd 2012 was officially the busiest ever online shopping day in the UK.

Retail Gazette reports that a total of 112m visits to retail websites were made on the day – a year-on-year increase of 32 per cent and the biggest ever single day number.

eBay was the single most popular website followed by Amazon and Argos. Amazon was the single biggest improver, increasing its share from 10.85 per cent last year to 12.18 per cent.

These three sites accounted for 30 per cent of all retail traffic on the day. The top 100 retail websites grabbed 62 per cent of the total.

Mobile ecommerce was also a big winner, climbing 10 per cent to 36 per cent.

As we predicted, Cyber Monday smashed previous online shopping records,” Experian Marketing Services’ digital insight manager James Murray stated.

There is still plenty of shopping time between now and Christmas however, and in particular we are expecting a lot of last-minute panic buying online on Christmas Eve as consumers take advantage of click-and-collect services.

Marketers need to be aware of these trends so they can engage with their customers at the right time to maximise sales in what could be a bumper Christmas year for online retail.”