14 December is "busiest online shopping day"

Sinterklaas first

Out of the 14 countries in the Stylight study, Belgium and the Netherlands are the last to get rolling when it comes to the holiday purchases. Brazil and Great Britain start on 27 November, while the United States and Switzerland spend most on 30 November (Cyber Monday).

About a week later, on 7 December, web shops in Sweden, France, Germany and Australia have their heyday, with Italy and Spain to follow on 8 December (which is a holiday in those countries) and Austria on 9 December. Those were the conclusions from, among other things, the activity on its websites over the past few weeks.

Customers in Belgium and the Netherlands only kick into gear on 14 December, when they spend twice as much as on a “normal” day, some 80 million euro. Both nations only start this late because of Sinterklaas, which is a children’s celebration on 6 December. In the Netherlands in particular, sales only start once Sinterklaas has left the country.

Not that mobile yet

Stylight expects Belgian customers to buy 20 % of their Christmas gifts online (compared to 14 % last year), spending 298 euro on average. The Dutch are estimated to buy 34 % of gifts online, averaging 365 euro.

Remarkable fact: even though smartphone use is up all across the world when it comes to online shopping, a fact supported by a 116 % increase in mobile traffic for Stylight and a 139 % increase for its app, only 11 % of the Dutch customers buys items on their mobile device.  The overwhelming majority apparently feels the smartphone screen is too small for online purchases.