Markets expects 3 billion pounds worth of sales between Black Friday and Cyber Monday

The four-day shopping spree is expected to leave a record of three billion pounds in sales across the UK, according to analysts at Experian and IMRG.

Between Black Friday last week and the close of Cyber Monday, shoppers will have spent more than three billion pounds, research analyst Experian, in conjunction with IMRG, the UK’s industry association for online retailers, point out, reports ‘The Guardian’.

Black Friday online sales are estimated to have reach 1.07 billion pounds, up 32 percent on last year.

This is the first time that internet sales would have exceeded the 1 billion pounds landmark in a single day, highlight the analysts conducting the research.

Meanwhile, online spending for Cyber Monday this year in the UK is forecast to reach a total of 943 million pounds, a whopping 31 percent on the same day in 2014.

Research firm PCA Predict has found there was a 270 percent increase in e-commerce activity on Black Friday compared with the previous Friday. Its figures show that there had been a 16 percent rise in consumers going online this Black Friday compared with 2014.

For example, Amazon reported record figures on Friday in the UK, saying it had sold more than 7.4 million items at a rate of around 86 items per second, its biggest sales day in the UK. “For the second year straight, customers in the UK have blown us away with their response to the many great deals on great products that we’ve made available for Black Friday,” said Christopher North, managing director of Amazon.co.uk.

But some companies struggled to cope with the peak in demand. It was the case of John Lewis, which website went down at around 3.20pm. Shoppers using the Argos website also experienced delays, while multiple errors on the Tesco website were also reported. Other retailers reportedly experiencing slow websites included fashion hub Boohoo.com, Boots, River Island and Debenhams.

Daniel Todaro, managing director of field marketing specialist, Gekko, explains this backlash: “Considering the chaos that occurred last year, with overcrowded stores, low stock and even scuffles breaking out amongst shoppers, brands and retailers need to be mindful of how these scenes could play out on news reports in an unseemly light; not only for brand reputation but also for customer loyalty.”

“On the flipside, Black Friday presents an easy opportunity to drive stock sell-through and target shoppers ahead of Christmas. Those brands that have adopted a careful and strategic planning approach are best positioned to reap the benefits during the flash sales. For example, in utilising in-store promoters and brand ambassadors, brands can steal a march over their competitors. Their mission will be to sell up though the range and use the discounted headline models to make attachment sales thus helping to increase the average value of each sale,” further elaborates Todaro.