Hundreds of harassed parents are pushing their shopping opportunity to the limit by picking up online orders on Christmas Day as families prepare for one of the most last-minute festive seasons ever.

With the big day falling on a Monday this year, many left their festive preparations later than ever, waiting to pick up food and gifts until after finishing their working week.

After a tough run-up to Christmas for high street retailers, corner shops are expecting a sales bonanza on Christmas Eve as their ability to stay open longer on a Sunday gives them an edge over supermarkets and other large stores limited by legal trading limits.

The Co-op is predicting a 41% sales uplift and will have 2,000 stores open until 9pm on Christmas Eve or later to cope with increased demand.

Chris Whitfield, Co-op’s director of retail and logistics, said he thought Christmas Eve this year could be a record-breaking day for the chain as he predicted milk, mince pies, prosecco, ice cubes and carrots would be the most sought-after items. “Christmas Eve is typically our busiest sales day of the year but this year small stores will have an added advantage because of longer Sunday trading hours.

“Some shoppers will be caught unawares that larger stores will close early,” Whitfield said.

Small shops that remain open on Christmas Day will now be able to offer not only basics such as milk but also a last chance to slip presents under the tree. Last year CollectPlus, which works with a network of 7,000 stores that act as pick-up and drop-off points for online orders from the likes of John Lewis, House of Fraser, Asos and Office, said almost 500 people picked up parcels on Christmas Day.

“We expect to see hundreds of Brits picking up their online shopping on Christmas Day again this year,” said Neil Ashworth, chief executive of CollectPlus. He added that last year more than 130,000 people collected parcels from CollectPlus stores in the three days leading up to Christmas, including over 35,600 people who picked up parcels on Christmas Eve.

“Click-and-collect on Christmas Day doesn’t surprise me at all. It’s a potential marriage saver,” said Andrew Starkey, head of e-logistics at online retail trade body IMRG.

Improved delivery options are partly driving the change in behaviour. Argos boasts that shoppers can order up until 1pm on Christmas Eve for same-day delivery. Starkey said more retailers were able to offer last-minute deliveries because they are storing stock in smaller local warehouses and because capacity in their distribution network had been freed up because more shopping had been brought forward into November by Black Friday.

“As you get nearer to Christmas the volume has already gone through the system,” he said.