Bargain-hungry Britons to flock online on Xmas Day

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Forget queuing in the freezing cold. Some 4.3 million Britons will go online on Christmas Day in a bid to snap up the best deals ahead of traditional January sales, according to online retail industry body IMRG.

The bargain hunters -- roughly half the number who watched the Queen's traditional televised Christmas message last Dec. 25 -- will spend around 120 million pounds (USD192 million), or an average of 28 pounds each, IMRG forecast on Tuesday.

That would be up from 102 million pounds last Christmas Day.

Boxing Day is set to be even busier. Last year it was the busiest day of the year in terms of traffic to online retail sites, as shoppers researched potential future spending in store as well as making immediate purchases.

"We have already seen that shoppers are willing to hold out longer for a bargain this year, with 'Cyber Monday' moving a week closer to Christmas," said Robin Goad, research director at online data specialist Experian Hitwise, referring to the busiest online trading day in the run up to Christmas.

"This behaviour is likely to carry through to the post-Christmas period, with people logging on after Christmas lunch to find the best discounts before hitting the high street and shopping malls the following day."

Separately, the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) forecast Britons would spend 21.9 billion pounds in the January sales, up 1.5 percent on the same time last year.

In a study commissioned by shopping comparison Web site Kelkoo, the CRR projected online sales would account for 4.6 billion pounds, or just over a fifth, of that total.

(USD1 = 0.6245 pound)