Bargain hunters and office workers in Central London top the list of the UK’s most prolific shoppers in the biggest cyber shopping event of the year, followed by Kirkwall, Lerwick and Llandrindod Wells. Central London tops the London list, Kirkwall the Scotland list and Llandrindod Wells the Wales list.

Black Friday is now widely regarded as the start of the Christmas shopping season in the UK. According to recent research* from Royal Mail, almost half of festive shoppers do most or all of their shopping online, with UK festive online shopping spend up 11 per cent YOY. Home comforts, the ability to shop any time of the day and ease of comparing prices are all factors driving the trend to make purchases online at Christmas.

The top ten online shopping hotspots are based on analysis of parcels accepted into the Royal Mail network between 26 November and 3 December and weighted against the number of delivery points**. Items were accepted from online retailers and ecommerce businesses for delivery via the Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 services.

Online purchases made on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and beyond will continue to be distributed by retailers and delivered by Royal Mail over the coming days, depending on consumer preferences.

In December 2018, Royal Mail handled 164 million parcels, up 10 per cent compared with the year before.

A spokesperson for Royal Mail said “We have looked at parcel delivery data across our network of delivery offices and this has revealed that Central London is the UK’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday online shopping hotspot for 2019. The data shows that parcel delivery at Christmas is just as important for our rural customers as it is for our city customers. We take the planning for the festive period very seriously and start preparing for the next year the moment the current one is over.”

Source: Royal Mail Group