We've had Black Friday ... now Cyber Monday is here

Online retailers are braced for their busiest day of the year as consumers take part in the annual pre-Christmas shopping spree dubbed Cyber Monday.

Recent years have seen online shopping figures consistently peaking on the first Monday in December, thought to be a combination of the last payday before Christmas falling on the previous Friday and a weekend spent browsing the shops before buying online.

Visa Europe predicts £450 million will be spent on its cards alone as online transactions top 7.7 million, an increase of 16% on last year, potentially making December 2 this year the busiest online shopping day in history.

Visa Europe director of commercial development, Jeremy Nicholds, said: "UK consumers' love affair with online shopping will reach its peak on Mega Monday when we predict that we will process 7.7 million Visa transactions - a 16% rise on last year.

"Online shopping now accounts for more than 25% of spend with Visa in the UK, signifying the confidence that consumers have in the security of online payments and in the delivery of goods.

"With an average of £312,500 expected to be spent online every minute on December 2, the Christmas shopping season will certainly start with a bang."

However the proliferation of mobile technology could mean this will be the last Cyber Monday, according to analysts, with John Lewis expecting to see traffic on its website reach its annual peak this evening.

The slots between 8pm and 9pm both tonight and tomorrow night are expected to be the busiest periods by both Visa Europe and John Lewis.

Amazon.co.uk is also preparing for its busiest day of the year, with sales expected to peak at 6pm tomorrow.

On Cyber Monday last year, Amazon UK saw more than 3.5 million items ordered on the site at a rate of around 41 items per second, meaning a delivery lorry packed with orders left one of the retailer's eight UK fulfilment centres every two minutes and 10 seconds.