Consumers plan to do more Christmas shopping online

Recent postal strikes have not deterred public from shopping online for presents. By Rosie Baker

Despite the recent postal strikes, online retailers should be relieved that people plan to do more online shopping this year than in previous years, according to a MarketingWeek.co.uk poll.

When asked if they planned to do more or less of their Christmas shopping online this year, more than two-thirds (68.7%) said they intend to do more. Only 31.2% of respondents plan to do less Christmas shopping online.

Polling was carried out before the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) called off further strike action between now and Christmas.

Strikes in September and October and the threat of more to come, led many e-retailers including Amazon.co.uk, John Lewis and Argos, to switch mail carriers.

Last week a report by the Centre for Retail Research on behalf of online comparison site Kelkoo predicted that internet retail sales would grow 24% this year to £8.9bn and account for a fifth of all shopping during the festive season.