Retailers prepare themselves for online shopping surge

Online retailers in the UK are getting themselves ready for the Christmas shopping rush, as ‘cyber Monday’ fast approaches.

With the increased uptake of broadband over the years online shopping has become increasingly popular, and many people enjoy doing their shopping via the Internet particularly at this time of year when many would prefer to avoid the queues in the High Street and instead prefer to do their Christmas shopping in comfort over the Internet.

In fact, the first Monday in December has been found to be the busiest day for online Christmas shopping, and has been dubbed cyber Monday. According to a recent report online retailers in the UK are now getting themselves ready for cyber Monday, when shoppers will flock to virtual retailers to buy their gifts as Christmas fast approaches.

Many shoppers will flock to online retailers such as Amazon.com, where a wide range of gifts are available to suit all sorts of needs. Officials from Amazon said that last year on Cyber Monday around 1.4 million items were ordered from its UK site, and this year, despite the recession, it is expecting sales to be up to thirty six percent higher.

One official from Amazon said: “This will without doubt be our busiest Christmas ever. Around this time of year we are looking at two to three times our normal run rate. Last year a delivery truck was leaving the warehouse every five and a half seconds.”

Another industry official said: “More and more people are doing their research online as well and comparing prices, so the influence of the internet is still growing. We are seeing more women shopping online and an older age group, just as they are using things like Facebook, and they are the people with the disposable income.”

Source – Guardian