UK retailers are bracing themselves for a record-breaking weekend as new research reveals consumers are set to splurge £7.8 billion over the four day Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend.
According to the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) and online voucher marketplace VoucherCodes, this figure is up 7 per cent on 2016.
Separate research from global real estate advisor Colliers International also revealed how total online sales from Black Friday week are expected to reach £7 billion this year, a 164 per cent increase on 2014 and 77 per cent higher than expected Boxing day total sales.
READ MORE:
In addition, more UK retailers than ever before are taking part in the shopping event this year, with high street stalwart Next even taking part for the first time – offering discounts of up to 70 per cent across all of its departments.
Despite Black Friday usually being the biggest savings day in the shopping calendar, the VoucherCodes’ report suggests that Cyber Monday is set to overtake Black Friday by £7 million to become the biggest day for online and offline spending this year.
Around 21.5 million Brits expected to spend £2.6 billion on Cyber Monday alone, a six per cent uptick on 2016 and averaging at a spend of £121 per person.
Despite what the name suggests, Cyber Monday won’t all be about online shopping, with shoppers set to spend £1.33 billion in-store compared to £1.27 billion online – five per cent difference.
Click here to follow Retail Gazette on LinkedIn
