Yesterday was the busiest day ever for internet shopping. More than £300 million was spent as shoppers flocked online in search of Christmas gifts. For the last two years, spending on presents has always peaked on the Monday closest to the start of December. Deloitte estimates the online market to be worth £20bn this year – an increase of more than 10% on 2008.

Visa Europe was handling up to 1,600 transactions per minute, up 25% from last year. Commercial Director at Visa Europe, Dr Steve Perry, was quoted saying that “In the past year, we’ve seen a continued increase in online spend on Visa cards, despite the recession. In fact on November 2, 2009, we surpassed our busiest days for spend in 2008 in the UK.”

It is predicted that the busiest day for high street retailers this year will be Wednesday the 23rd of December.