Real-time card payment fraud prevention firm Retail Decisions (ReD) has predicted that online shoppers will spend £980,865 in just one minute on 8 December, as volumes are forecasted to rise 42 per cent in the run up to Christmas.

Despite ReD also predicting that the average transaction value in the UK will fall by 10 per cent compared with 2007, the amount of online goods sold in one day is expected to total £450m – 60 per cent of shoppers being female.

Carl Clump, chief executive of ReD, said: "With the recent VAT cuts to help lead Britain out of recession, ReD will be monitoring its real-time online data to see whether the British people go on a pre-Christmas spending spree, or remain cautious."

Items appearing on shopping lists include iPhones, laptops and Nintendo Wii games, compared with the rush last year for Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 consoles, the iPod Nano and the Samsung u600 mobile phone.

ReD’s data shows that Monday is traditionally the busiest shopping day online in the run up to Christmas.

The most ever spent online in one UK minute was £767,500 at 1:09pm on 10 December 2007.