Royal Mail braced for festive online surge

13 April 2012

A record 100 million goods ordered online will be delivered this festive season, the Royal Mail predicts.

Retailers are braced for an upturn in both Christmas gifts and groceries bought via the internet compared to last year.

The Royal Mail expects to deliver 30 million more festive online orders than it did in 2005.

Amazon.co.uk was named the UK's most popular online store by the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG).

Online retailer play.com came second followed by the Argos and Tesco online stores.

The Royal Mail's head of multi-channel retail Catherine Campbell said: "We predict we will deliver 100 million items ordered online in the run up to Christmas and have been working closely with retailers to ensure we provide a high level of service to their customers and that they have an enjoyable online shopping experience."

Figures released earlier by the IMRG state that UK shoppers will spend £7 billion online in the 10 weeks leading up to December 25.

IMRG chief executive James Roper said: "More than half the UK population will buy some goods online this Christmas and some will only shop on the internet for their Christmas presents."

Sainsbury's is increasing the volume of delivery slots for goods ordered online by 50% compared to last Christmas.

The supermarket giant made a record number of grocery deliveries after orders came close to 60,000 per week, it said.

It will deliver fresh whole turkeys between December 20 and 22.

The IMRG's quarterly list of top e-retailers is based on the number of visits per site.

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