Shoppers
ordering their Christmas groceries were left in a state of panic on
‘Mayhem Monday’ today as one major supermarket’s website crashed and two
cancelled orders.
Sainsbury’s
and Asda customers made their fury known on social media after finding
delivery slots they had booked weeks ago were scrapped, with the
former’s website shut down for half an hour.
Supermarkets
and high streets in Britain were swamped as shoppers made their final
purchases before Christmas, with today expected to be the most popular
day for festive grocery shopping.
Busy day:
Shoppers on Oxford Street in central London today. Visa Europe expects
some £1.3billion to be spent using its cards tomorrow
Father-of-three
Peter Dunbar told Sainsbury's in a tweet: 'Had an email last night
cancelling our Xmas shop delivery. Website glitch. No delivery slots
left now. What will you do to fix?’
Meanwhile
Matt Richardson said: ‘Sainsbury's have let us down 100 per cent.
Delivery slot booked two weeks ago - Sainsbury's make a unilateral
decision to delete our order. Merry Xmas!'
Asda
customer Justine Webster tweeted: ‘A problem with your website has
cancelled my order and delivery for tomorrow! I could cry.’
And
Asda shopper Patrick Harper stated: 'Entire food delivery for our
Christmas holiday just cancelled by Asda but they can deliver... on the
29th! Shocking service.’
Asda
told MailOnline its website did not crash, but confirmed a ‘handful of
customers’ experienced technical issues. Around 50 customers were
understood to have been affected by the problems.
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Out and about: Shoppers pack Oxford Street, with today expected to be the most popular day for festive grocery shopping
An
Asda spokesman said: ‘We’re contacting those customers today to
reassure them they will be getting their orders, and to offer a little
something extra for their inconvenience.’
Meanwhile Sainsbury’s said it experienced ‘a brief technical issue with our website last night which has now been fixed’.
Tomorrow, an hour at lunchtime is believed to be the peak time for high street shopping.
Supermarket
aisles will be filled today as some 36 per cent of consumers plan to do
their main Christmas food and drink shop, according to a survey.
This
was followed by 35 per cent who are due to stock up on festive treats
tomorrow. And from Saturday until Christmas Eve, £300million is expected
to be spent in London’s West End.
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Wish list: An hour at lunchtime tomorrow is believed to be the peak time for high street shopping
Asda
expects to sell 270,000 turkeys, 56million mince pies and 5.8million
tins of biscuits and sweets, while Marks & Spencer will trade
14million pieces of party food, reported the Daily Mirror.
Meanwhile
tablet computers and video games have been the biggest online sellers
for Tesco, which expects to shift 175,000 turkeys and 1.5 million
Christmas puddings in the run-up to Christmas.
Some
15million Britons were said to have hit the high street at the weekend
for last-minute shopping, with 12million planning to continue purchasing
right up until Christmas Eve.
The
figures came from multi-store gift card company One4all, which also
found in a study of 2,000 UK that one in five people in Britain struggle
to be creative with presents.
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Christmassy: People take a photograph in front of a festive window display on Oxford Street in London today
Meanwhile
Visa Europe expects some £1.3billion to be spent using its cards
tomorrow, making it the busiest day on the UK high street in the run up
to Christmas.
Some
£916,667 will be spent every minute or £15,278 every second on Visa
cards, the company predicts. The peak time will be in the lunch hour
break from 1pm to 2pm.
Kevin
Jenkins, Visa Europe managing director, said: ‘Black Friday
kick-started Christmas on the high street and online this year but the
busiest bricks and mortar day will likely remain in its traditional slot
close to Christmas.
‘Retailers’
multi-channel approach should cause a surge in footfall from
click-and-collect sales too, with the opportunity for further shopping
in-store when consumers arrive. Across Tuesday we are likely to see
£1.3billion spent in total.
'Lunch
hour should prove the most popular time for a shopping trip, either for
last minute gifts or final ingredients for Christmas dinner.’
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Crowded: Christmas shoppers pass a '50 per cent off' sale sign on Oxford Street in central London today
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Oxford Street: 15million Britons were said to have hit the high street at the weekend for last-minute shopping
Some
34million transactions are expected to take place which is 7 per cent
higher than in 2013, while spending is predicted to rise 6 per cent.
Jace
Tyrrell, deputy chief executive of New West End Company London, said:
‘The weekend got off to a strong start across the West end with footfall
up 6.8 per cent year-on-year on Saturday and up 4.7 per cent
year-on-year for the weekend as a whole.
‘Retailers
reported confident sales over the weekend hitting the expected
£150million spend mark with menswear, accessories and technology proving
popular purchases.
‘We
are expecting shoppers out in force as the countdown to Christmas
begins with 75 per cent of shoppers on Christmas Eve set to be men for
the traditional last-minute “Man Dash”.’
The Mail also reported today how traditional Boxing Day sales could become extinct following a rise in pre-Christmas discounts, with shops starting their sales earlier every year.
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