Irish retailers have been warned that there has been a significant bump in shoppers flocking to major UK-based online retailers ahead of the Christmas shopping period.

Digital marketing agency, Wolfgang Digital reports that Irish interest in Amazon's UK site is 30% higher than it was 12 months ago.

This graph shows Irish Google searches for 'Amazon' spiking again - almost hitting 2015's peaks ahead of the big shopping day.

Irish heads have been turned as sterling values have fallen by more than a quarter against the euro, following the Brexit vote.

Wolfgang Digital CEO, Alan Coleman says Irish retailers need a defense plan to prepare for this swing towards English websites.

The agency reports that for half of its online retailers Black Friday was the busiest day of the year last year - and income was 116% higher in 2015, year-on-year.

Mr Coleman is worried that once we migrant to UK mega-sites we won't come back to Irish retailers:

"The golden Christmas quarter is make or break for Irish retailers and anybody suffering 30% loss will struggle. Because online shopping is habit forming, the pain of lost custom for Irish retailers who don’t address this could continue into 2017 as consumers form new relationships with UK retailers."

He says that Irish sellers need to highlight the benefits of buying Irish:

"Strong messaging to encourage customers to keep the spend in Ireland. In all of their marketing Irish online retailers should highlight what makes buying from them better than buying from UK websites – cheaper and faster delivery, speedier returns, and all the benefits of supporting their local community by buying Irish."

Mr Coleman believes that Irish sellers need to get their message in front of Irish shoppers visiting British sites:

"With advances in Google advertising technology you can now create specific campaigns for specific audiences.  So for example if you make all of your customers an "audience" and they go to Google to search Amazon.co.uk, you can target that audience with an ad that promotes your Reasons to Buy Irish landing page front and centre, winning back customers from the competition's shopfront.

"Our research shows that savvy sales shoppers will be buying big ticket items from their mobiles this sales season, so invest in mobile advertising. We've also seen average transaction volumes rocket after midnight as big ticket shoppers stay up late on Black Friday eve to get the best deals," he continued.

Some retailers have gotten ahead of the curve and are already offering Black Friday deals.