Online retailers reveal Mega Monday confusion

Confusion reigns over 'Mega Monday' the day the UK's online retailers sell the most amount of goods, with Visa suggesting that it's today and Play.com plumping for next week.

Online giant Play.com is gearing up for next Monday – 7 December and the first Monday in December – to be its busiest.

"Online shoppers are spending more money than ever this Christmas, despite the doom and gloom of the recession – and look set to splash record amounts of cash on Monday 7 December," said Play.com's release

"Known as Mega Monday, this is the day the UK's leading e-retailer, Play.com predicts will be its busiest of the year, as the festive shopping season gets into full swing."

Or today

However, Visa has other ideas, with the Daily Mail stating: "According to the card company, Visa, there will be almost 2.4 million online sales today which is the highest figure on record. The busiest period will be around lunchtime with a second peak around 7pm."

We contacted Play.com to get to the bottom of things, and they answered: "Play.com believes that the seventh will be Mega Monday; however other retailers may feel differently."

So there you have it, it's Mega Monday today, or next week. Whatever turns out to be true, we can't see any retailers too unhappy at having two major sales days.

Credit Crunch? Meh

David Smith, Director of Operations at IMRG comments, "Despite the credit crunch, the online retail sector is still growing, with an increasing number of consumers appreciating the ease and efficiency of shopping online.

"Consumers have become much savvier and cost conscious in the current climate; we are seeing a growing trend of online price comparisons so customers ensure they get the best deal for their purchase.

"We are expecting approximately £350miliion to be spent online on 7 December which is up 10 per cent on the corresponding Monday last year. We are also expecting online shopping sales in December 2009 will reach up to £5 billion."