Web sellers lowering prices on Mondays, research shows

Offering discounts at the start of the week is helping online firms to boost sales.

This is the finding from a report by shopping comparison and coupon site ExtraBux.com, which analyzed data from more than 1,000 retailers on over 100,000 products.

Electrical goods are particularly affected by this trend, it was found, with the average sales price of a computer rising by 3.8 per cent between Monday and Friday. The cost of a TV tends to rise by 1.9 per cent during this time.

Forrester Research analyst and leading ecommerce expert Sucharita Mulpuru says the reason for this variance is that online sellers are reacting to traffic volumes.

"Retailers recognize that early in the week is when there is the most competition to capture the attention of consumers, and this competition results in lower prices for consumers," she explained.

Research from Experian Hitwise has shown that online sales traffic is already increasing in the build-up to Christmas, with shoppers refusing to wait for Black Friday to get the best deals.

Posted by Rachel Wheeler