When financial institutions like Visa tell the market that sales are likely to be north of £450 million here in the UK, a growth of 16% on 2012 then retailers sit up and listen. The reasons behind the pick-up in sales is attributed to a combination of the last payday before Christmas, the queues of traffic and shoppers on our high street at the weekend, putting some customers off buying and taking the time to review their purchases online instead.

The other reason could be that major retailers such as Asda, Game, Zavvi etc are promoting it across stores and online in order to get consumers to feel the need. Retailers are also responding to the success of Black Friday. John Lewis reported a 100% increase in sales year on year with the likes of Debenhams, Gap and M&S using the day as an opportunity to promote sales and draw customers looking for a bargain or two.

All this marketing activity should help convince shoppers that if they are going to go online, today is the day to do it and therefore they can be a part of the Christmas shopping spirit! We all love being part of a mob, ever since Roman times citizens have taken up the shout of the day and carried out the will of the masses, so today will likely be the same.

Whether today really is a "Mega Monday" only time will tell, however if the retailers have anything to say about it then it will be a record year and it will give Amazon the opportunity to try out their Drone's on mass!

Let us know your experiences, as a retailer or a shopper and we will build a picture of the day in the coming weeks.