Retailers enjoy strong Christmas Day and Boxing Day sales

The day after Christmas proved to be a strong shopping day for U.K. consumers, with many retailers reporting significant online traffic and in-store sales.

According to an online monitoring report, Boxing Day 2011 broke the record for the U.K.'s best day for online shopping, with 96 million U.K. internet visits, a 40 percent increase from Boxing Day 2010, which reported 68 million visits. The experts who analysed the report believe Boxing Day falling on a Monday in 2011 helped it reach its record-breaking number because many shoppers prefer Mondays for online purchases. In addition, the report suggests many shoppers were also making purchases online on Boxing Day as they planned for New Year's Eve parties or were using online gift cards they received for Christmas.

Pure etailers saw an increase in Christmas and Boxing Day traffic this year compared to last, but multichannel retailers were still the top performers.

For example, multichannel retailer Debenhams reported a 75 percent increase in Christmas Day online traffic in 2011 compared with 2010, and John Lewis experienced a 19 percent year-on-year increase in the value of online purchases since it launched a clearance for its online store on Christmas Eve, BBC News reported. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, John Lewis reported more than 1.5 million visits to its online store, a 51 percent increase from 2010.