‘Black Friday Deals Week‘ begins in earnest today as pure-play e-tailer Amazon is set to offer over 5,000 products at high discounts.
Last year, the e-tailer, which was recently voted the UK‘s best brand, launched the offer, incorporating deals and promotions in a bid to entice consumers to shop for Christmas online.
Today has been dubbed ‘Manic Monday‘ by retailers as it is expected to be the busiest online shopping day of the year so far, with retailers including Comet, which was recently sold by owner Kesa Electricals to a private investment firm for just £2, also expected to offer extensive promotional deals.
Online comparison site Kelkoo and the Centre for Retail Research predict that a total of £424 million will be spent online as consumers rush to make early Christmas purchases to avoid any disruption to deliveries caused by bad weather, as was the case last year.
The end of November also sees consumers switch to a festive focus in the US, where millions of shoppers flock to stores in the hopes of taking advantage of deals offered by retailers around ‘Black Friday‘, the discount shopping day that follows Thanksgiving in America and signals the start of Christmas shopping on the other side of the Atlantic.
Over $45 billion (£28.5 billion) was spent by shoppers in America over ‘Black Friday‘ weekend in 2010 and Amazon hopes to emulate this success this year across its UK market.
Christopher North, Managing Director of Amazon.co.uk Ltd., said: “Great bargains were flying off Amazon‘s virtual shelves last year as customers were quick to click to get a deal before the offer expired.
“Doubling the deals for 2011 will mean tens of thousands of additional items are available. The high discounts on offer mean that many items may go quickly, so customers are advised to check back regularly in order to snap up a bargain before the end of Black Friday.”
Promotions at Amazon during the week include ‘Lightning Deals‘ with a limited quantity of a product being offered at a discount for a limited period of time. This year, the e-tailer is offering twice as many products as last year, including books, music, electronics, fashion and beauty.
