British consumers seek online bargains and ramp up their Christmas shopping, with 145 million websites visits expected over 24 hours today.
Retail finance specialists Pay4Later has estimated 24.9m people will do Christmas shopping today and industry body IMRG has predicted sales of £451,00 every minute, which could mean £650 million in online sales by this evening.
Shoppers have been advised to browse during the morning or afternoon as online traffic is expected to peak at lunchtime.
Tech products are among the most popular Cyber Monday items, with Tesco offering iPads for £289 and John Lewis selling the iPad Mini at £149.
Despite not being available to purchase yet, Motorola is offering £100 off its Moto X phone if consumers register for the products today.
Digital commerce giant Amazon is reportedly running Cyber Monday deals every ten minutes which include headphones, compact cameras and speakers.
Embracing US retail traditions
Cyber Monday follows Black Friday, an American retail tradition which follows Thanksgiving. Black Friday has fully established itself in the British calendar and police were called to stores across the UK on Friday to control crowds of savvy shoppers and bargain hunters.
“The US phenomenon of Black Friday is now firmly embedded in the UK e-retail calendar” states IMRG Chief Information Officer, Tina Spooner.
Amazon UK reported Friday as its busiest day on record with orders for more than 5.5 million goods placed and around 64 items sold per second.
Tech-savvy shoppers
James Miller, senior retail consultant at Experian Marketing Services, remarked that online shopping has become “an important leisure activity” for a wide variety of people, from middle-income families to single millennials.
“These tech-savvy groups are typically early adopters of new technology trends, prolific online shoppers, and active users of mobile and tablet devices.”
He added that Christmas 2014 is “on track” to be another record-breaking year for online retail in Britain.