WITH only 20 shopping days until Christmas, brands are upping their game to take grab a slice of the online consumer spend.

Consumers are expected to spend £7.75bn in the next three weeks, according to the online retail trade association IMRG.

E-retailers hailed last Monday “Cyber Monday” as online sales rocketed, making it the busiest shopping day online for the past three years.

Visa estimated that £303m was spent online on their cards last Monday, and so despite the recession, this figure is 12% higher than sales recorded last year, which they attribute to consumers taking advantage of online deals and increased online security.

The main problem that retailers are facing is a lack of consumer confidence in the economy. The result is a savvier buyer who is looking for good value and the best deals - and online is the place to find them.

Online retailing continues to be a profitable domain for brands with sales up 14% on this time last year, according to IMRG.

Improved mobile phone technology has enabled a sharp rise in purchases, with nearly a quarter of smartphone-owners now using this platform to buy goods online.

The web has the scope to capture the market and take over the high street as it offers more products, faster service and better deals.

A survey by Gumtree has found that online daily deals and voucher websites are being used by 70% of consumers to help fund Christmas this year.

However, the buying process doesn’t end when a consumer leaves a website – if online retailers also have a high street presence they need to make sure that they provide a complementary “real-life” customer experience.

Both Amazon and John Lewis expect today to be their biggest online shopping day of the year and, as IMRG anticipates that 90% of transactions will either be over the internet or influenced by it, a strong online presence across multiple platforms offering quick, reliable service is the way forward.

INTERNET entrepreneur Ben Hatton is founder and managing director of digital agency Rippleffect. Follow Rippleffect on Twitter @rippleffected