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UK retailers could see a very green Christmas Day online

December 23, 2013

U.K. shoppers waiting till the 11th hour and 59 minutes could result in a record-breaking online Christmas Day shopping splurge, with 117 million visits to retail websites expected on the 25th itself, according to The Guardian (U.K.).

Data services company Experian has predicted that U.K. shoppers will spend 45 million hours shopping online Dec. 24-26, the paper said, and visits to retail websites are forecast to rise by 9 percent on Christmas Day itself:

James Murray, digital insight manager at Experian marketing services, said Christmas 2013 online visits had consistently outperformed last year. He added: "Shopping habits are changing, with Christmas Day becoming a significant shopping day during the period.

"As a result, we anticipate a more sustained shopping pattern during this period, moving away from the traditional peaks and troughs usually evident during holiday season."

Online retail giant Amazon has already predicted it will see record Christmas Day sales this year.

Retailers are hoping the last critical few days of the Christmas shopping season will make up for what has been a "dismal" 2013," the paper said.

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