British shoppers are set to spend almost £300 purchasing goods online at Christmas, according to recent research.
Research commissioned by Royal Mail shows that, based on online sales figures from 2017, Brits is poised to on average £292 for the festive season.
Thirty per cent of shoppers start making their Christmas purchases during or before October, while the majority of online shopping for Christmas will take place between November 15 and December 13.
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The research also revealed that men spend on average £304 online shopping at Christmas, compared to women who spend £271 each.
Two in five online shoppers spent more in 2017 than 2016.
Online shoppers’ most popular purchases are clothes, at 54 per cent, followed by books at 46 per cent, then CDs, DVDs and computer games at 42 per cent.
Rounding out the top five are toiletries and make-up at 32 per cent, then toys at 31 per cent.
The average gift costs £42 and the average number of gifts purchased online at Christmas per person is seven.
Royal Mail found that the main reasons people choose to shop online at Christmas are convenience-related.
Sixty-eight per cent of survey respondents said they liked being able to shop from the comfort of their home, 63 per cent liked the ability to shop any time of the day, while 48 per cent highlighted the ease of comparing prices.
Interestingly, the device of choice for shopping is laptops, with 59 per cent of respondents opting for it compared to 34 per cent who preferred shopping on their smartphones.
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