Amazon.co.uk predicts that the busiest day for online shopping in the UK, often referred to as Cyber Monday, will fall on Monday 2nd December this year, with post-work Christmas shoppers triggering a sales peak at 6pm.
Last Cyber Monday, Amazon‘s UK site saw more than 3.5 million items ordered on the site, at a rate of around 41 items per second.
To meet customer demand, Amazon is hiring more than 15,000 people across the UK for seasonal positions in its fulfilment and customer service centres this Christmas period.
“The expected peak in sales at 6pm on Cyber Monday is interesting as traditionally sales have spiked later in the evening. In fact, in 2011, sales peaked at 9.20pm,” commented Xavier Garambois, Vice President of EU Retail at Amazon. “The earlier rush indicates that people will be using their commute to get a head start on their shopping or logging on as soon as they get home, so they can relax in the knowledge that their Christmas shopping is done.”
Whilst Cyber Monday is the biggest single day for online sales, Black Friday Deals Week is expected to be Amazon.co.uk‘s biggest week to date this year when it launches on Monday 25th November. Now in its fourth year, the week discount deals was first introduced to the UK by Amazon in 2010. Initially an American phenomenon, ‘Black Friday‘ takes place just after Thanksgiving, and heralds the start of the Christmas shopping season in the US.
This Black Friday Deals Week, will offer over 2,000 deals on Christmas gifts – more than twice the number available last year.
“Since we started Black Friday Deals Week in the UK, the concept has really caught on and is now a much anticipated event in the UK shopping calendar,” said Christopher North, Managing Director of Amazon.co.uk Ltd.
