The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
UK shoppers expected to spend £1bn on Christmas Day.
Sales expected to kick off on December 24, with shoppers keen to bag the best deals
British shoppers will spend £1 billion this Christmas Day for the first time.
As “post-Christmas” sales start online on Christmas Eve, 930,000 Scots – one in five adults – will spend time on devices on the day.
They will blow a record £76 million – up by 11% on last year.
Shoppers will spend an average of £81 each according to a Centre for Retail Research study for Voucher Codes, based on interviews with 80 major UK retailers and 1,000 shoppers.
Store spending in Scotland on Christmas Day is set to add an additional £9m as 130,000 shoppers spend at a record number of convenience stores and garages opening on December 25.
Experts said convenience shops will see bumper trade for last-gasp food and gifts as bigger shops will be shut.
UK-wide, Christmas Day will see web spending hit a record £895m and store spending is set to pass £105m, giving a £1bn total spree.
Christmas Day online spending will peak at 10am, as cash gifts and vouchers are opened, and 6pm, before big evening TV shows, experts say.
Consumer electronics will be popular purchases, with Amazon expecting movie and music downloads to be big sellers.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research, said: “It looks like the first ever £1 billion Christmas Day. The day is getting stronger every year for online spending.
“Shoppers want the bargains retailers make available when post-Christmas sales start as early as Christmas Eve.
“Many people will have received money or vouchers to spend, and all sorts of spontaneous online gifts for others occur on Christmas Day.
“Peaks are expected at 10am as cash gifts and vouchers are opened, and 6pm before the big TV shows, with high spending during the evening.
“More small shops than ever will open on Christmas Day. For convenience stores, it’s a superb day and they’d love every Sunday to be like Christmas Day, with all the big shops closed.
“Shoppers will call in for last-minute gifts and food they forgot to buy.”
Mintel director of retail research Richard Perks said: “A lot of money will be spent by a lot of people on Christmas Day.
“Shoppers want to ensure they get the best deals as soon as they are available – and shopping by mobile makes it easy for them to do so.”