Mega Monday gets online tills ringing

But sales figures for November disappoint

It was the perfect storm for e-tail yesterday as an estimated £320m was splurged online by UK punters.

With Christmas shoppers' wallets bursting with last month's pay packets, 6.8 million transactions were set to take place online on the day dubbed Mega Monday, according to Visa Europe.

Transactions on Visa cards alone were set to jump by 21 per cent on the equivalent day last year, with sales expected to hit £320m.

The busiest shopping day of the year has historically fallen on the first Monday of December as most consumers will have been paid the previous Friday.

According to Visa, consumers were ready to splurge £222,222 per minute yesterday, making 4,722 transactions every 60 seconds.

UK online sales were up 7.5 per cent in November, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium released this morning.

The trade association said consumers were holding off on Christmas purchases for as long as they could, as total retail sales inched up just 0.4 per cent on the previous year, on a like-for-like basis.

"Retailers meanwhile are trying to hold firm to maintain their margins but, if volumes do not pick up significantly in the next two weeks, some will bow to the pressure to clear stocks before the year end and cut their prices," said‪‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG.