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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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某零售業集團本周四稱，今年圣誕節預計將有近500萬英國人網上購物，消費金額將超過1.5億英鎊（合2.32億美元）。一方面是為了搶購打折商品，另一方面也是想躲過明年一月份增值稅的上調。
網絡零售產業機構英國互動媒體零售集團（IMRG）預測稱，12月25日將有480萬英國人網上購物，消費金額將高達創紀錄的1.53億英鎊。
支付公司維薩歐洲證實了上述預期。據維薩歐洲預測，消費者在圣誕節將通過維薩卡進行96萬筆網購，消費金額高達3600萬英鎊。在每4英鎊的交易中，就有超過1英鎊是通過維薩卡進行的。
今年10月份和12月份，英國網購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IMRG堅信消費者并未失去熱情。
IMRG總經理大衛?史密斯說：“圣誕節近年來已經成為忙碌的網購日，看中商品價值的消費者力圖充分利用網絡零售的全天候特性。”
“由于受到大范圍降雪影響，很多人無法出門逛街，因此在接下來的幾周內，網購量將有明顯增加。”
IMRG預測稱，在明年一月初增值稅上調之前，家具、電器等高價商品的銷量會有所上漲。
另外，英國最大的零售商特易購宣布，公司網店將先于實體店推出家居用品和廚具的促銷活動，而實體店的類似促銷將在節后的12月26日開始。
該超市集團稱，此次促銷涉及羽絨被和家具等數百種商品，價值約1.95億英鎊。
商貿及市場總監理查德?布拉舍爾說：“平安夜和圣誕節將成為特易購今年網購銷量最大的兩天。”他還補充說，在明年1月25日前的旺季促銷中，特易購所銷售的所有非食品類商品的增值稅將不予上調。
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（中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯：陳丹妮）
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