LONDON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A 15 percent increase in online purchasing for Christmas in Britain may result in some not getting their gifts on time.
The Web site Amazon.com has taken almost 100 million orders worldwide since Nov. 1 and says 99 percent of goods ordered via its U.K. site will arrive on time. However, that means mean hundreds of thousands will not get their gifts on time, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Britain's Royal Mail, Amazon's main shipper, must deliver 70 million online-bought present this Christmas, but first-class mail arriving the next day has fallen from 90 percent to less than 70 percent.
"The boom in Christmas shopping on the Internet is putting huge pressure on the system," said James Roper, of the Interactive Media in Retail Group, an Internet retail industry body.
"Waiting for a delivery feels like being in a black hole -- you've no idea if what you've bought is going to turn up or not."
