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Amazon.co.uk has announced that it is expecting its busiest Christmas Day yet. Orders are expected to peak at 8.52pm, as customers relax after the day’s festivities and start shopping for bargains on the ecommerce company’s Boxing Day Deals Week Sale..
Christmas Day 2015 is also predicted to be the busiest day ever for digital downloads on Amazon.co.uk. Digital sales on Amazon.co.uk traditionally peak between Christmas Day and December 28, and with Black Friday 2015 setting new records for sales of both Kindle eReaders and Fire tablets, the number of downloads is predicted to reach a new high this year.
Jay Marine, vice president of Amazon Video EU, said: “Digital streaming and downloads are extremely popular on Christmas Day because of the number of new devices that are given as gifts. The moment that people receive their new device, they want Kindle books to read, apps to play, music to listen to, and movies and TV shows to watch. With more digital content available on Amazon than ever before, we expect Christmas Day to break digital download records.”
Christmas Day 2014 was the busiest day for downloads of digital products on Amazon.co.uk last year. ‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars was the top selling track, ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn was the most downloaded Kindle book and ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ was the bestselling title on Amazon Video.
Sales on December 25 for the internet-based retailer have grown by more than six-fold over the past five years and Amazon.co.uk has historically seen a defined sales pattern on Christmas Day:
From midnight to 11am, sales on Amazon.co.uk are led by Printable and Email Gift Cards as people pick up last-minute presents. Orders of Gift Cards generally peak at 10am.
At 12 noon, with the first presents opened and an hour or so before lunch, shoppers head to Amazon.co.uk to purchase Kindle books, MP3s, TV and films, digital video games and apps for their new devices, with the first sales peak of the day at 12.13pm.
Sales of cases for devices, video games, video games accessories, coffee capsules and selfie sticks increase at lunchtime as customers order products to use with their new Christmas gifts. Redemption of Gift Cards also increases at this time.
3pm is the Queen’s Christmas Broadcast and sales dip, as the nation stops what they are doing to watch the monarch give her traditional televised address.
From 7pm onwards, when Christmas TV specials air, there is another spike. Last year, screenings of ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’, ‘Miranda’ and ‘Downton Abbey’ prompted soaring DVD sales, Amazon Video streams and downloads of ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie’, ‘Miranda Hart – My, What I Call, Live Show’ and ‘Downton Abbey: A Moorland Holiday’.
Jay Marine commented: “A closer look at the hour by hour trends on December 25 gives us a real insight into how the UK spends Christmas Day – from saving the day with a last minute Gift Card to grabbing a bargain in the sale.”
This year, Amazon.co.uk will launch its biggest ever Boxing Day Deals Week Sale at 4pm on Christmas Eve. Running until 11.59pm on December 31, there will be more than 5,000 deals will be available – more than three times the number of deals offered last year – with an average of 35% off current Amazon.co.uk prices.
Bargains will include ‘Lightning Deals’ – products available at a discount, in limited quantities, for a short period of time – as well as ‘Deals of the Day’ – selected products on offer for one day, from 00.01am to 11.59pm.
