These sales will comprise almost 180 million units of goods, ranging from books, DVDs and electronic equipment through to children's toys and cooking products. Predicted sales and confirmed pre-orders have already exceeded the total amount of sales for previous years, with figures of £5bn last year and £3.3bn in 2004.
This is in line with predicted high street sales for both the US and the UK. The US expects an increase of 6.5% in high street retail spending, with the average American consumer spending nearly $800 on gifts for friends and family; the UK projects a similar spectrum, with a predicted growth of 6.8% on last year's spending.
New online services remain optimistic in terms of getting a large slice of the pie this season. With the recent emergence of Yahoo! shopping, alongside plans for Froogle 2.0 to be launched very soon, search engines hope to challenge the traditional dominance of shopping sites such as Amazon, Play and eBay. Shoppers can now search - and compare - a large proportion of the UK online shopping market with a simple click; however, studies suggest that many people are suspicious of smaller sites with no reputation and are more prone to opt for the larger, better-known retailers when the price differential is not too great.
Amazon doesn't seem too worried; the online retailing giant has posted its biggest ever sales forecast this year, exceeding the 400,000 units-a-day it shipped in December last year. Demand appears to be especially high for electronics products as well; with two new game consoles - the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 - launching in time for the holidays, along with a proliferation of new, lower cost high definition televisions and stiff competition from the Xbox 360, online retailers should be rubbing their hands in glee.
