Boxing Day sets all-time record for busiest ecommerce day

According to research from Experian Hitwise, UK consumers spent 13m hours shopping online on Boxing Day, which makes it the biggest e-commerce day in the UK ever.

A staggering 96 million UK visits to online retail websites were registered on 26 December, the day which starts the traditional after-Christmas sales. In comparison, last year’s Boxing Day saw almost 20% fewer visits, at 80.5 million.

Researchers commented that the surge in sales was driven by two main factors – the momentum gathered after the busy Christmas Day, which also registered better sales than last year’s and the fact that Boxing Day fell on a Monday this year. Analysis from Experian Hitwise clearly showed that Internet traffic to retail sites booms on Mondays every week.

eBay and Amazon remained the most visited sites, with a combined share of over 18% of all visits. Argos, Next and John Lewis all ranked in the top five, with a share between 2% and 3% each. Department stores M&S, Debenhams and House of Fraser also advanced in the rankings, due to promoted post-Christmas sales.

Tesco and Tesco Direct both leapfrogged ten other sites to rank 14th and 15th respectively between 25 December and 26 December, as consumers wanted to start preparing early for New Year’s Eve and spend some Christmas money on late gifts.