The pre-Christmas discounting weekend is ongoing and UK retailers are hoping that online Cyber Monday sales will be much better in the UK than Black Friday as people preferred online shopping last Friday.
It is estimated that online sales on Monday will increase by nearly third to £943m, compared last year, a report on The Guardian said. By the end of the four-day shopping spree, total sales is seen to go beyond £3bn, said analysts.
Online shopping "stole the show," said Springboard, a firm that tracks digital shoppers on Black Friday. It notes that retailers spread offers this year to several days, not limiting them on Friday. Analysts said websites with reliable operations have the edge.
Springboard Insights and Marketing Director Diane Wehrle stated: "The volume of activity in retail stores over the Friday and Saturday of the Black Friday weekend is lower than last year and the evidence clearly points to the fact that much of this is due to a significant increase in shoppers using online to participate in the event."
Black Friday online sales were expected to be 32 percent higher than last year, at £1.07bn, Experian data company and Interactive Media in Retail Group predict. If that will be true, this year will be the first for the UK online sales to go over £1bn in a single day while online Cyber Monday in the UK will be 31 percent up compared to 2014, at £943m.
Retail parks experienced a 4.9 percent increase in footfall compared to last year. Numbers of shoppers were not so high on Friday but on Saturday and Sunday. Shoppers tend to do click and collect shopping.
Amazon said last Friday was their busiest in the UK with more than 7.4m products sold at a rate of about 86 per second.
Other online retailers had problems due to big demands, said BBC. Pre-Christmas discount day started in the U.S. to kick start the holiday shopping period. Due to "extremely high levels of visits," Argos confirmed experiencing delays, while John Lewis had been down for a short time.
Last year, retailers experienced shoppers on Black Friday crowding some stores, so they hired more security staff this year to be ready for a repeat. However, analysts predicted shoppers prefer buying on the Internet so retailers are more set for online Cyber Monday in the UK.
