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Almost 5 million Britons are expected to go online on Christmas Day and spend over 150 million pounds ($232 million) as they look to grab bargains and beat a rise in January in VAT sales tax, a retail group said on Thursday.
IMRG, the industry body for Internet retailers, is predicting that 4.8 million shoppers would hit their computers on December 25 and spend a record 153 million pounds.
The estimate is backed up by payments company Visa Europe, which expects 960,000 transactions worth 36 million pounds will be made on Visa cards on Christmas Day. Visa transactions account for over 1 pound in every 4 pounds spent.
Online sales surged an average 22.5 percent year-on-year in October and December and although deliveries have been disrupted by recent adverse weather conditions IMRG is confident shoppers will not have been put off.
"Christmas Day has become a busy online shopping day in recent years as people with an eye for value look to take advantage of the 24/7 nature of online retail," said IMRG's managing director David Smith.
"With many people not being able to get out to the high street sales due to the wide-ranging impact of the snow, online could see a real boost over the next few weeks."
IMRG forecast that sales of expensive items, like furniture and electrical goods, could get a boost ahead of an increase in VAT sales tax in early January.
Separately Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, has announced a sale of home and kitchen products on its website ahead of similar offers in stores from December 26.
The supermarket group said the discounts would be on hundreds of items including duvets and furniture, and were worth around 195 million pounds.
"Christmas Eve and even Christmas Day will be two of Tesco's busiest online shopping days this year," said commercial and marketing director Richard Brasher, adding Tesco was freezing VAT on all non-food products in its seasonal sale until January 25.
(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
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(Agencies)
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某零售業(yè)集團(tuán)本周四稱，今年圣誕節(jié)預(yù)計(jì)將有近500萬(wàn)英國(guó)人網(wǎng)上購(gòu)物，消費(fèi)金額將超過(guò)1.5億英鎊（合2.32億美元）。一方面是為了搶購(gòu)打折商品，另一方面也是想躲過(guò)明年一月份增值稅的上調(diào)。
網(wǎng)絡(luò)零售產(chǎn)業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu)英國(guó)互動(dòng)媒體零售集團(tuán)（IMRG）預(yù)測(cè)稱，12月25日將有480萬(wàn)英國(guó)人網(wǎng)上購(gòu)物，消費(fèi)金額將高達(dá)創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的1.53億英鎊。
支付公司維薩歐洲證實(shí)了上述預(yù)期。據(jù)維薩歐洲預(yù)測(cè)，消費(fèi)者在圣誕節(jié)將通過(guò)維薩卡進(jìn)行96萬(wàn)筆網(wǎng)購(gòu)，消費(fèi)金額高達(dá)3600萬(wàn)英鎊。在每4英鎊的交易中，就有超過(guò)1英鎊是通過(guò)維薩卡進(jìn)行的。
今年10月份和12月份，英國(guó)網(wǎng)購(gòu)銷量同比平均上漲了22.5%。盡管近期的惡劣天氣影響了貨品遞送，但I(xiàn)MRG堅(jiān)信消費(fèi)者并未失去熱情。
IMRG總經(jīng)理大衛(wèi)?史密斯說(shuō)：“圣誕節(jié)近年來(lái)已經(jīng)成為忙碌的網(wǎng)購(gòu)日，看中商品價(jià)值的消費(fèi)者力圖充分利用網(wǎng)絡(luò)零售的全天候特性。”
“由于受到大范圍降雪影響，很多人無(wú)法出門逛街，因此在接下來(lái)的幾周內(nèi)，網(wǎng)購(gòu)量將有明顯增加。”
IMRG預(yù)測(cè)稱，在明年一月初增值稅上調(diào)之前，家具、電器等高價(jià)商品的銷量會(huì)有所上漲。
另外，英國(guó)最大的零售商特易購(gòu)宣布，公司網(wǎng)店將先于實(shí)體店推出家居用品和廚具的促銷活動(dòng)，而實(shí)體店的類似促銷將在節(jié)后的12月26日開(kāi)始。
該超市集團(tuán)稱，此次促銷涉及羽絨被和家具等數(shù)百種商品，價(jià)值約1.95億英鎊。
商貿(mào)及市場(chǎng)總監(jiān)理查德?布拉舍爾說(shuō)：“平安夜和圣誕節(jié)將成為特易購(gòu)今年網(wǎng)購(gòu)銷量最大的兩天。”他還補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，在明年1月25日前的旺季促銷中，特易購(gòu)所銷售的所有非食品類商品的增值稅將不予上調(diào)。
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