The other day I made the mistake of answering truthfully when someone asked me what I'd done over the weekend. "Yesterday I sorted my Christmas catalogues into size order," I replied excitedly, in one of those conversation killing, must-remember-to-engage-brain-before-opening-mouth-next-time moments.

No doubt I have already been consigned to a mental pigeonhole marked "saddo" as a result, so I might as well share the thrilling findings. This year, the A5-format has proved most popular among cataloguers targeting Francis Towers, with 11 arriving in this format. The slightly larger 160x240mm also proved a hit, with eight in this dimension or thereabouts.

'Square or squareish' variants achieved good stand-out, particularly L'Occitane's vibrant pink and orange offering. And uncoated paper also provided added tactile appeal for Boden, Sweaty Betty, Crew Clothing, White Stuff, Lands' End and John Lewis.

The essential selection (a sort of Holy Trinity of Christmas catalogues, although there are four) of M&S, Boots, Lakeland and John Lewis all produced suitably hefty page-turners.

Online shopping was predicted to hit 85 million visits yesterday, so-called Cyber Monday, with predictions that online sales will rise 15% this year in contrast to all the uncertainty around spending by High Street shoppers.

At Francis Towers at least, there's no sign of a slowdown in brands eager to gain sales via the flick-to-click model. I'd be interested to know whether catalogue printers agree.