Cyber street or high street?

It’s just another manic Monday!

Or rather it’s just another Cyber Monday, with more UK retailers having Cyber Monday sales to entice online shoppers amidst steep competition! Today is expected to be Britain’s biggest pre-Christmas shopping day, with 85M visits to ecommerce sites. That’s up 19 percent on last Monday. CyberMonday.co.uk predicts that today online shoppers will spend 14 percent more than last year. In the US, many online retailers (Sears, Kmart and Home depot) and having ‘Cyber Monday 2‘ in the hope of repeating last week’s record sales.

According to the price comparison site MoneySupermarket.com, the average shopper is expected to make nearly half their purchases online this year, with Brits spending £13.4bn in cyber shops and mobile accounting for 12 percent of this, (source: the Centre for Retail Research). Experian Hitwise say that UK internet users are expected to spend more than 350 million hours shopping online for Christmas presents during December.

There’s also a huge multichannel marketing push, with brands looking to use online to drive web traffic as well as footfall to their physical stores through promotions. However, this will impact margins ahead of the traditional Boxing Day sale period. The Entertainer, Britain’s biggest independent toy retailer said that current sales were more than 2 percent lower than last year – and that 2011 is proving to be the most discounted Christmas in 30 years. Official figures are expected to show that retail sales continue to fall in November, dropping 1.7 percent as the high street faces its toughest Christmas since the 2008 credit crunch.

The top UK Cyber Monday sales to be had:

1. Amazon.co.uk: Cyber Monday Deals Week

2. HMV: Cyber Weekend Sale

3. Dell: Christmas Days of deals – new deals every 48 hours

4. Marks & Spencer: Free Uk delivery over £30

5. Hamleys: Spend £25 and get Pudding Bear half price

6. Homebase: 20 percent off when you spend £30 or more

7. Play.com: 22 percent off Take That Progress Live CD

8 Comet: Up to an extra 15 prcent off everything

9. Topshop: Free standard delivery on all UK orders

10. Argos: Up to half price toy sale

As technology transforms our shopping habits, where are you doing your shopping this year?

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