Why e-Xmas is here at last: Christmas is always a lucrative time for brands to catch a receptive market. But while marketers have traditionally lured shoppers to the high street, they are now urging them to buy online

Precision Marketing, December, 2003 by Curtis Brown

Direct marketers have been planning festive campaigns for most of the year, ensuring customers hand over their hard-earned cash in the season of good will.

Although the advent of convenient online stores has not curbed the traditional business' festive marketing deluge, this year e-marketers are claiming a big shift in sales. After hailing every year throughout the late Nineties as 'the first e-Christmas', online data crunchers say the sector is now set for a majority share of Santa's sack.

Royal Mail is expecting online shoppers to spend a record-breaking 3.34bn [pounds sterling] for the season. Head of goods distribution Ross Drake says: "This is testament to consumers overcoming their fears about secure delivery. With more delivery and service options...