UK shoppers broke internet shopping records on Boxing Day as they spent 13 million hours online browsing retail sites and ordering parcels for delivery services to send to their homes.

Online retail sites received 96 million visits from consumers, a 19.5 per cent rise from Boxing Day in 2010, according to research published by industry analyst Experian Hitwise.

This makes December 26th 2011 the biggest ever shopping day in the UK.

Many of the visits were to clothes and fashion stores, as River Island and New Look rose in the rankings. Amazon and eBay were the two most popular sites on the day, heightening the sense that online-only retailers are increasingly popular.

"As we predicted, the online-only retailers are making inroads to multi-channel’s dominance of Christmas shopping," said analyst James Murray.

Electronics retailer Comer predicted recently that online shoppers would flock to its site in the week following Christmas to take advantage of price reductions.
 

Author:  Gillian Walters