UK shoppers set to spend £7.8bn over the four day Black Friday weekend
UK retailers are bracing themselves for a record breaking weekend as new research from VoucherCodes and the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) reveals UK consumers are set to splurge £7.8bn over the four day sales weekend from Black Friday (24 November) through to Cyber Monday (27 November), up 7% on 2016.
Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday
Despite Black Friday traditionally being the biggest savings day in the shopping calendar, the new report suggests that Cyber Monday is set to overtake Black Friday by £7m to become the biggest day for online and offline spending this year. Shoppers are set to be out in full force as 21.5m Brits will spend an enormous £2.6bn on Cyber Monday alone, up 6% on 2016 and averaging at a spend of £121 per person as retailers encourage more and more consumers to take part in the popular shopping weekend.
High street spending boom
Despite what the name suggests, the day won’t all be about online shopping, with UK shoppers set to spend 5% more in-store (£1.33bn) than online (£1.27bn) on Cyber Monday, as retailers cut prices on everything from TVs and home appliances to fashion and beauty products.
Black Friday Sat/Sun Cyber Monday 2017 total 2016 total YoY % Difference
UK online £1.15bn £0.71bn £1.27bn £3.13bn £2.79bn +12%
UK offline £1.45bn £1.87bn £1.33bn £4.65bn £4.49bn +4%
Total £2.59bn £2.58bn £2.60bn £7.78bn £7.28bn +7%
Expected offline/online spend for 2017 Cyber Weekend (in billions)
Bumper savings
VoucherCodes is expecting to see a surge in visitors over the four-day shopping bonanza, with shoppers set to make £780k worth of savings from Friday to through to Monday and £224k worth of savings on Cyber Monday alone. Last year, a dedicated team of deal hunters added over 8,500 codes to the site, with even more codes expected to be added to a dedicated Black Friday section of the site this year.
Festive favourites
Research conducted by VoucherCodes and Opinium reveals that one fifth of UK shoppers (21%) are looking to treat themselves on Cyber Monday, while 18% will use the day to do their Christmas shopping. Popular items set to be snapped up include including clothing, footwear and accessories (16%) personal gadgets including smartphones and tablets (12%) and home electronics including TV’s and sound systems (11%) amongst others.
Paul Lewis, senior director of marketing at VoucherCodes:
“Last year, we saw a 78% increase in the number of visitors to the VoucherCodes website compared to the week prior, showing there’s a massive appetite for offers and discount codes over the Black Friday weekend. Cyber Monday is often the last day to take advantage of these fantastic offers, so we’re not surprised that savvy shoppers are holding out to take advantage of the sales throughout the weekend. This year we’ll be continuing to help our brand and retail partners drive even more value from Cyber Weekend, by getting their promotions in front of engaged customers.”
