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Amazon To Offer Online Service For Christmas Eve Shoppers

Mon, 12 Nov 2007

Amazon.co.uk has announced an online shopping service could be launched to prevent last-minute Xmas shoppers rushing to the high street for presents.

The service will deliver goods, ordered before 8.30am on December 24, to shoppers that same day.

However, Amazon has confirmed that only last-minute festive shoppers in the London and Birmingham areas will have access to the service.

The online retailer will guarantee Christmas Eve delivery of eligible items for customers in both areas for a charge of 14.99 per delivery . Shoppers will have until Wednesday December 19 to make an order in time for Christmas Day by first class delivery .

Amazon expects the DVD of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to be its top selling Christmas gift, followed by Jamie Oliver's latest book, Jamie at Home, and the Spice Girls' Greatest Hits CD in third.

The popular Nintendo Wii and the Apple iPod Touch are also expected to feature in Amazons top 10 list of Christmas gifts .

The announcement follows a recent prediction by the UK's e-retailer industry body - the Interactive Media in Retail Group of a 42 per cent upturn in online spending this Christmas compared to 2006.

Festive shoppers in Britain will spend an estimated 13.9 billion online this Xmas, according to a report released last month by Forrester Research.