Santa clicks away happily: Online Christmas shopping in UAE is bigger than ever

More and more Christmas shoppers find their gifts online.

The very fact that November this year was the best month in history for group-buying website Cobone indicates that online Christmas shopping is bigger than ever.

"We experienced a more than expected increase in sales compared to Christmas last year," says Paul Kenny, Cobone's CEO. "Compared to the same time last year sales went up with 120 per cent."

In November and December group-buying websites significantly increase their offers online; and online buyers eagerly click away without having to leave their house.

Mother of one, Dubai-based Claire Dantoft logged on this Christmas season to troll through the online deals and save herself the trip to the local malls.

“After a long day at work, the last thing anyone wants to do is bundle up a cranky baby and drive into the Christmas madness for cart of full of gifts that will probably end in tears – mother or child, you pick one,” she said.

“Back in the UK it is pretty normal to even have the groceries delivered to the doorstep, so a gift in post is not a big deal really,” she added.

On its website Cobone offers the 'buy-as-a-gift option', where the price tag will be removed from the item delivered. In the month of November this option alone accounted for an increase in sales of around 500 per cent compared to
the previous month, tells Paul.