Boxing Day is bigger than ever as UK makes 129 million visits to online retail sites
UK shoppers spend 17 million hours browsing and shopping online on 26 December 2013
London, 27 December 2013 – Experian, the global information services company, has today revealed the astonishing scale of online retail shopping over Christmas 2013. Insight from Experian Hitwise, the online competitive intelligence tool, shows that Boxing Day 2013 was the biggest and busiest day ever for online retailers in the UK.
British Internet users made 129 million visits to retail websites on Boxing Day 2013, a 15 per cent year-on-year increase, making 26 December the biggest online shopping day ever. In total the UK spent 17 million hours browsing and shopping online on Boxing Day 2013. UK shoppers spent 44.3 million hours shopping online across Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Additional data points include:
• There were 90 million online retail visits on Christmas Eve 2013 (up 6 per cent year-on-year) and 114 million online retail visits on Christmas Day (up 6 per cent year-on-year)
• Boxing Day 2013 was the biggest day ever online shopping day (again) for the sixth year in a row
• Boxing Day 2013 was 8 per cent bigger than Middle Cyber Monday (9 December 2013) which was the previous record holder for online shopping visits
• 1 in every 88 searches made in the UK on Christmas Day included the word ‘sale’ or ‘sales’
James Murray, Digital Insight Manager for Experian Marketing Services commented:
“Online retail records have been broken again for the fourth time this December with an astonishing Boxing Day performance. The figure of 129 million retail visits is 8 per cent bigger than any other online retail day in history.
“A number of factors have contributed to this performance. Boxing Day has always been a key shopping day for consumers to spend money and vouchers received on Christmas Day and to organise for returns or exchanges of unwanted gifts. More importantly, Boxing Day is perhaps the biggest sales day of the year – with keen shoppers looking for the best bargains available. What we’ve seen this year is that shoppers were planning their Boxing Day bargain hunting on Christmas Day as 1 in every 88 searches made in the UK on Christmas Day included the word ‘sale’ or ‘sales’. Christmas Day itself, although not as big as Boxing Day, has once again seen significant growth in online retail visits, highlighting that 25 December is becoming an important online shopping day in its own right.”
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Contact:
Stephanie Dobson
Head of PR, Experian Marketing Services
0115 9922515 / 07966 847821
Stephanie.dobson@uk.experian.com
About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.
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 31 March 2013 was US$4.7 billion. Experian employs approximately 17,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.
For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com
About Experian Marketing Services
Experian Marketing Services is a global provider of integrated consumer insight, data quality and cross-channel marketing. We help organisations from around the world intelligently interact with today’s dynamic, empowered and hyper connected customers. By coordinating seamless interactions across all marketing channels, marketers are able to plan and execute superior brand experiences that deepen customer loyalty, strengthen brand advocacy and maximise profits.
For more information, visit www.experian.co.uk/marketingservices