Australian shoppers got in early to bag a bargain on Boxing Day, with new research finding consumers began their search for sales on Christmas night.

E-commerce acceleration provider, SLI Systems, looked at more than 20 million searches on 100 Australian retail sites during December, with the data recording a peak in online shopping activity at 8:00pm (AEDT) on Christmas Day and 10:00am (AEDT) on Boxing Day.

SLI Systems suggests that this new trend is an ideal opportunity for online retailers to get ahead of their competitors by starting online promotions earlier than usual.

“Traditionally Australians have waited, but our data show a trend which this year saw significant online activity on Christmas Day, peaking at 8:00pm,” Mark Brixton, regional director APAC, SLI Systems, said.

“Savvy online retailers should take advantage of this unexploited opportunity,” Brixton said.

Despite the interesting peak on Christmas evening, Boxing Day remains the unrivaled key shopping period for online bargain hunters.

Boxing Day exhibited 49.6 per cent more activity than Christmas Day and page views on Boxing Day were 66 per cent higher than the average across the month of December.

The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) was expecting a bumper Boxing Day, estimating more than $2 billion to go through the tills – a year on year increase of $72 million.

The ARA was also projecting  $45 billion would be spent in pre-Christmas sales from November 5 until December 24, representing a 4.3 per cent gain during the same period in 2013.