A report from ICM has found that British consumers have splashed out £2 billion on preparations for the festive season in December of 2017, according to Internet Retailing.

Close to a third of respondents admitted to spending over £100 on presents for the coming Christmas in spite of the fact that it is still many months away.

Interestingly, almost one in 10 of those aged 18 to 34 said that they had completed their Christmas shopping commitments via safe shopping online with a huge amount of time to spare, showing that millennials are especially attuned to the benefits of e-commerce.

Even with a sizeable chunk of the population already getting their festive preparations underway, the draw of major retail events later in the year is still strong. Fifty per cent of those questioned said that they would be taking advantage of discounts on Black Friday in November to make savings.

Report spokesperson, Thomas Jeanjean, said that shopping online was making it easier for consumers to plan for Christmas earlier in the year rather than leaving it to the last minute. He argued that the rise of smartphones and the improvements made to the multichannel experience were empowering shoppers and enabling retailers to meet their needs more effectively.

Furthermore, experts claim that retailers are especially eager to foster loyalty amongst customers so that they are more likely to return and make purchases for Christmas each and every year. So by bringing this spending earlier and earlier, it is less of a challenge to hold onto the attention of consumers.

The seasonal shifts in spending habits that have been brought about by the rise of online shopping show that consumers are really taking advantage of the added flexibility which is now available to them today.