A CANBERRA business broke records for its biggest day ever on Monday, overseeing more than $16 million of sales as shoppers swooped on web-based sellers with last-minute Christmas orders.
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Founder of eWay Matt Bullock said transactions jumped 22 per cent from the same day in 2011, and the value of each purchase was up 30 per cent.
''Christmas always brings increases in volume and we have seen this growth over the 14 years we have been operating,'' Mr Bullock said. ''This increase shows the strength of e-commerce and the impact of Click Frenzy and Cyber Monday in generating more business for online retailers.''
Mr Bullock started eWay in 1998 and now the business has 12,000 customers, with a further 350 added each month. ''Customers use us and don't even know they use us. We assist merchants to process credit cards of purchases on the internet.''
He said some businesses had their biggest day for online sales in 2012. ''One company did 10,000 transactions in one day, when normally that is like a year's trading,'' he said.
On eBay a piece of women's clothing was sold every five seconds, a DVD every nine seconds, a radio-controlled toy every 30 seconds and a watch every 48 seconds.
Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman forecast 2.3 million visits to eBay and a 26 per cent visitor increase on 2011's busiest day, December 11. ''It was a very successful day but I haven't got figures out of eBay yet,'' Mr Zimmerman said.