After a weekend charging down cold, crowded high streets and skirmishing in strip-lit aisles with other people’s aunties, many have resolved to continue their Christmas shopping from the safety of their own homes.

For today is expected to be Mega Monday, the day of mass online present-buying. It is a day when millions express their seasonal spirit of generosity without having to see another human being, while allowing good time for delivery.

For some the cold weather may have been enough to dissuade them from going outside. Others may have been frustrated in their forays on the high street. The rush began in earnest last night, on what may be thought of as Mega Monday Eve. The online auction house eBay was expecting to see 27 items sold every second yesterday; overall it was forecast that £320 million would be spent over the weekend in a thunderous and mounting percussion of mouse clicks.

Several retailers believe that the splurge has started earlier this year, in part because of the lower rate of VAT and heavy discounting from retailers. Weekly figures from John Lewis up to Saturday evening showed that, although shop sales were down, online sales were at an all-time high. Online, the store beat its previous record, set last year in the week up to December 15, by £500,000. Today it expects to do even better.

While traditional shops are expecting the worst Christmas in years, IMRG, the industry body for internet trading, is predicting £13 billion of online sales across the Christmas period, an increase of 15 per cent on last year.

Today purchasing is expected to peak between 12 and 2pm and again between 6pm and 9pm. Judging by analysis of previous Mega Mondays, online buying will be at its zenith at 1.31pm, when shoppers will spend at a rate of £16,000 per second. The total receipts for the day could reach £450 million, a rise of 25 per cent on last year.

Research from Sainsbury’s Finance suggested that the average spend on preparing for Christmas was up 14 per cent on this stage last year.

The cause, according to a spokesman for eBay, was a desire to be thrifty. According to its research, the average shopper is expecting to spend £23 per gift, compared with £28 last year. “Because of the economic climate, people are looking for a bit more value,” he said. “They are looking for bargains earlier and not risking leaving things too late.”

Internet stores reported that traditional board games, such as Guess Who and Trivial Pursuit, were doing unusually well as shoppers looked for cheap family entertainment.

Royal Mail is expecting to deliver 120 million items on average each day over Christmas and has hired 20,000 extra staff to deal with the increase.

It will also lay on extra deliveries on the Sunday before Christmas Day and the two evenings before Christmas Eve, ensuring that packages reach people at a time when they are more likely to be at home.

Among the deliveries may be a certain electronic, toy retriever puppy, life-sized, called “Biscuit the Dog”. John Lewis reported yesterday that this item has been selling in record numbers.

Readers are reminded that an electronic toy puppy is for its warranted life, not just for Christmas.

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