UK shoppers set to smash records for online shopping this Christmas

'Manic Monday' to outstrip Cyber Monday with 151 million visits to online retail sites and £676.5 million spend

London, UK, 27, November 2014 - New figures produced by the global information services company, Experian, in conjunction with IMRG, the UK's industry association for online retailers, have tipped online Christmas shopping to set new records this December.

Buoyed by increasing consumer confidence in delivery times and click & collect, and also fuelled by the widespread use of mobile technology, the Experian-IMRG projections estimate that the key peaks for pre-Christmas online shopping include "Cyber Monday" (the 1st Monday in December) and "Manic Monday" (the 2nd Monday in December). Huge online spending increases in 2014 are also predicted as people are more comfortable shopping online and leaving it increasingly later in the run up to Christmas.

Insights are taken from the combined datasets of Hitwise, Experian`s online competitive intelligence tool, and the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index using historical data and trends to make estimated predictions for 2014.

According to Experian and IMRG:

  • Manic Monday will surpass Cyber Monday and will be the busiest pre-Christmas online shopping day in the UK, with 151 million online visits to retail sites spending an estimated £676.5 million.
  • Online traffic on Manic Monday is expected to be up 26 percent year on year, with shoppers spending an average of £470,000 each minute.
  • Online sales on Black Friday are expected to reach £555.5 million, with smartphone and tablet devices accounting for £196.6m.

James Miller, Senior Retail Consultant at Experian Marketing Services said:

"Christmas 2014 is on track to be another record breaking year for online retail in the UK. Continuing a trend we identified last year, Cyber Monday will no longer be the busiest pre-Christmas online shopping day, with Manic Monday expected to take the lead. With increased confidence in the standard of delivery services and 'click and collect', we expect to see people break away from traditional shopping habits. This is why it`s key for marketers to make sure their Christmas campaigns reflect these peaks of interest and know their audience in order to offer them the gift ideas they are looking for through the best channels to engage them on."

"We have identified a number of key demographic types, who are believed to be behind the rise of online sales during the festive period. Online shopping is an important leisure activity for a wide variety of people, from active middle-income families with teenage children to young singles. These tech-savvy groups are typically early adopters of new technology trends, prolific online shoppers, and active users of mobile and tablet devices."

Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer at IMRG said:

"The US phenomenon of Black Friday is now firmly embedded in the UK e-retail calendar and, while the first two weeks of December are traditionally the peak festive trading weeks for the online retail industry, Black Friday now marks the start of the online shopping season.
Smartphones and tablets are set to account for over half of all traffic to retail websites during the festive season and on Black Friday alone, online spend via mobile devices is set to reach over £196m.

"E-retail sales have grown 17% year-to-date in 2014 and retailers are increasingly confident in their online performance during the fourth quarter, which indicates the industry is gearing up for another record-breaking Christmas."


-ENDS-

Contact:

Nick Jones
Head of PR, Experian Marketing Services
07583 297082
nick.jones@experian.com

Matthew Tubbs
Ruder Finn for Experian Marketing Services
02074383090
mtubbs@ruderfinn.co.uk

Rebecca Bryant
IMRG
02036960980
press@imrg.org

About Experian
We are the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to our clients around the world. We help businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. We also help people to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.  In 2014, we were named by Forbes Magazine as one of the 'World's Most Innovative Companies'.

We employ approximately 16,000 people in 39 countries and our corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2014, was US$4.8 billion.

To find out more about our company, please visit http://www.experianplc.com or watch our documentary, 'Inside Experian'.

About IMRG
IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) is the UK's industry association for e-retail. Formed in 1990, IMRG is setting and maintaining pragmatic and robust e-retail standards to enable fast-track industry growth, and facilitates its community of members with practical help, information, tools, guidance and networking. The strength of IMRG is the collective and cooperative power of its members.


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