Dec 3, 2008
IMRG the organisation that represents the UK e-retail industry records that Monday 1st December recorded the UK’s largest ever online shopping volumes. However, anticipations that the new drop in VAT would increase volumes failed to materialize, leaving sales and levels of traffic lower than expected.
James Roper, CEO at IMRG, says: “Monday is almost always the biggest shopping day of the week, and Monday’s in December are usually huge. It was widely assumed that the recent fall in VAT, from 17.5% to 15%, would create a considerable shopping surge, due pent up demand caused by shoppers waiting for the lower rate. But it just didn’t happen. Many of the smart e-retailers had already passed on the lower rate as soon as it was announced.”
Jon Prideaux, deputy chief executive of payments service provider SecureTrading, comments: “Yesterday was the largest day for UK e-commerce ever in terms of transactions, but value was flat. Transaction volumes were 3% higher than the 2007 record but value is almost exactly the same as last year. The size of the general Christmas peak is smaller: normally it’s 85% above an average day, this year it’s only 68%.”
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