Britons set to spend over £12,000 per second on Black Friday

The UK’s biggest ever online shopping day is on the horizon with Britons expected to spend at an average rate of £12,384.26 per second this Black Friday, 27th November.

Retail experts believe it will be Britain’s first ever £1bn plus online shopping day, with spending set to rise 32% on the overall spend from Black Friday 2014 where £810 million was spent on that day alone.

This year’s Black Friday rate of spend is expected to be a 276% increase on the average online spend per day in the UK of £3,297.82 per second. Throughout the day an expected 12 million plus online transactions will be made.

According to statistics from money saving website Voucherbox.co.uk, based on 2014 trends, by 9am on Black Friday almost £200,000 will have been spent, with the second highest peak of the day at 11am taking the spend up to more that £335,0000 by mid morning.

Spend is likely to level out in the afternoon before reaching the largest predicted peak of activity at 9pm, by which point over £900,000 will have been spent on e-commerce sites.

Originating from the US, Black Friday has an increasing relevance to UK retailers and consumers, with huge temporary discounts offered at the start of the Christmas period. In the US the equivalent of £67,024.33 will be spent per second this year, with a larger population and with the day being a more established date to American shoppers.

With 2014 seeing an average order value of £88.89 and with over 9 million transactions taking place on the big day last year many top retailer websites crashed due to the rush in spending. With a further 32% increase in activity expected, many retailers are better prepared for this year.

Some have significantly increased their offline logistics in order to be able to meet delivery requirements and many have optimised their websites to deal with the extra demand. Some retailers are also taking a more prudent approach to Black Friday itself and are spreading out their special offers and discounts throughout the weeks building up to Christmas.

Shane Forster, UK Country Manager of Voucherbox.co.uk says, “The rate of spend predicted for Black Friday 2015 is huge, and so retailers need to ensure they are prepared for the uplift this year. Last year saw many websites unable to handle the pressure of the visitor influx compared to normal days and in order to take their share of what is up for grabs on this one day, systems must be in tip top shape and ready for the flood of visitors”

“With all the hype around Black Friday and the many deals promised by top brands, we are anticipating an even earlier peak in the flood of visitors than last year, it will definitely be an early start!”

Matt Swan, Head of Business Intelligence for Affiliate Window added, “Black Friday really arrived in the UK last year and established itself as a new retail phenomenon. We saw some incredible year-on-year growth across the network with almost a 140% increase in sales on Black Friday 2013. During the peak trading hour we recorded six sales per second. This year Black Friday is widely anticipated to be even bigger, with Experian–IMRG predicting it to be worth £1.07bn. We’re expecting strong performance across the network and mobile devices to play a key role throughout the day.”

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