SYDNEY: Australians are predicted to spend A$7bn online this Christmas, with Monday December 7 being the heaviest shopping day.

That's the conclusion reached by Adobe, which analysed more than one trillion retail web site transactions and 350m SKUs over the past seven years, B&T Magazine reported.

"The average Australian internet user will spend a total of $328 online during November and December, driving around 18% of total online sales for the year," said Tamara Gaffney, principal research analyst, Adobe Digital Index.

She added that while Click Frenzy – the Australian version of Cyber Monday taking place tomorrow – would naturally generate an increase in online sales, "we are predicting the biggest day for online spending will be 7 December".

A significant proportion of this activity will be taking place via mobile devices.

"Over the next two months we expect 14% of ecommerce purchases in Australia to be transacted via smartphones and around 8% via tablets," Gaffney revealed.

"Shoppers will also browse on their mobile devices – 31% via smartphones and 12% via tablets," she added.

The Adobe report also said that prices would fall throughout the season, with peak discounts coming on event shopping days.

A separate survey from analytics company SAS indicated 79% of Australian consumers anticipated spending the same or more on Christmas this year than last.

Alan Lipson, global retail marketing manager at SAS, said that retailers could expect a good holiday shopping season but cautioned that "competition for a share of purse will be keener than ever as consumers increasingly resort to the internet to seek out bargains and compare prices".

In the world of bricks and mortar SAS said department stores and discount retailers would be visited more frequently than specialty shops and boutiques.

Data sourced from B&T, IT Wire; additional content by Warc staff