Holiday bargain hunters were able to tap into Boxing Day shopping earlier than ever before this year, courtesy of the Internet.

In B.C., electronic giants Future Shop and Best Buy opened up access to year-end sales online as of 5 p.m. Christmas Eve. Normally, shoppers looking for those door-crasher deals, both online and in person, have had to wait until the morning of Dec. 26 -- one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Cheryl Grant, spokeswoman for Future Shop in Vancouver, said the online sale attracted "a large volume of people" to the company website.

The story was the same at Best Buy, according to company spokeswoman Heather Seabrook.