Unwrapped: The Top 10 towns that ‘Click’ for Christmas

The research shows Belfast residents purchased more festive gifts online than any other town in Northern Ireland and is closely followed by Londonderry, then Newry, Craigavon, Newtownards, Coleraine, Lisburn, Ballymena, Newtownabbey and Enniskillen.

Postmen and women delivered more online orders to people living Co Antrim than anywhere else in Northern Ireland.

The findings are based on analysis of deliveries made by Royal Mail Tracked® through its extensive UK-wide delivery network.

Royal Mail has found that an increasing number of people are planning to do more of their Christmas shopping online this year than in 2011

Research has also shown that more people are planning to splash out on Christmas, buying on average 15 presents and spending £400

Some £4.6 billion will be spent online in the two weeks from Monday, December 3,(source: IMRG and Capgemini) and Royal Mail is gearing up for Christmas and prepared for the rise in parcel volumes; opening eight dedicated parcel sort centres for the Christmas period.

Amazon is predicting that ‘Cyber Monday’, the UK’s busiest online shopping day, will be on December 3.

Meanwhile, the picture for this year, suggest that the growth in online Christmas shopping is continuing.

A specially commissioned study*, carried out by Onepoll on behalf of Royal Mail has found that 43% of people are planning to do more of their Christmas shopping online this year than they did the year before – with around 57% expecting to do around the same.

But it also found that 60% of people are planning to spend longer choosing their gifts online, with four hours their maximum, compared to three hours 40 minutes last year.

Nick Landon, Royal Mail’s Managing Director of Fulfilment, said: “Online shopping is now such a key part of the Christmas shopping experience. Our research shows that more people will be going online for their festive gifts this year than ever before.

“Royal Mail is prepared for this rise in parcels, by opening our eight dedicated parcel sort centres, which will assist our network during our busiest time of the year.”

“Customers can play their part in helping to get their presents and cards delivered on time by posting early and always using a correct postcode when sending their mail. Customers can check postcodes for free at www.royalmail.com/postcode-finder.”