Spending is forecast to be up 4.5% year-on-year as cost-of-living pressures begin to ease and shoppers look to grab bargain clothes, toys and electrical goods ahead of Christmas
British shoppers are set to splash the cash this Black Friday, with over £9billion forecast to be spent this year.
Over the major shopping weekend, consumers will spend £9.14bn – up 4.5% year-on-year – as cost-of-living pressures begin to ease.
Firm VoucherCodes, who compiled the research for its annual Shopping for Christmas Report, said top of wishlists will be clothing and footwear, with 55% set to snap up the latest trends at a discounted price. This is followed by toys, with half of Britons looking to buy these ahead of Christmas, then electrical goods.
Breaking spending down further, items will be practically flying off the shelves with an eye-watering £3.33 million spent every single minute on Black Friday itself, or £199.82m each hour.
Following the same pattern as the last couple of years, retailers are starting their Black Friday promotions as early as October. This means that over the wider two-week Black Friday period consumers are expected to spend £23.70bn – an additional £1.03bn or 4.5% on last year
This year, Black Friday will take place on November 29, with Cyber Monday on December 2, slightly later than in previous years. The event started in the US, following Thanksgiving and became popular in the UK around a decade ago.
Anita Naik, savings expert at VoucherCodes.co.uk, said: “Black Friday is a great way to nab a bargain in the run up to Christmas and it looks like this year a lot of Brits will really be making the most of it. With almost two-fifths of consumers planning to shop the sales, it’s set to be a busy few days.”
However, shoppers looking to grab a bargain have been warned of a rise in scams. Last year, Three Mobile’s network tracked a 300% increase in fraud around Black Friday, while Barclays said the average amount lost by its customers to such cons over the mega shopping weekend was £970.
