Black Friday: Sales switch online on discount day

Consultants Experian and online retail group IMRG are forecasting online purchases will hit £1.07bn, the first time they have passed £1bn in one day

.

Stores opened early, but there were smaller crowds than a year ago.

Online activity is said to be up, but expectations are for a longer period of discounts

and shopping.

 

Last year's Black Friday saw shoppers fighting over bargains, websites crashing and delivery companies struggling to cope.

The discount

day originated in the US, where it takes place the day after Thanksgiving and kick-starts the Christmas shopping period. It has since spread, not only to the UK, but also with similar sales in countries such as Brazil and India.

It is still dwarfed by China's Singles Day - the world's biggest online shopping event. On that day earlier this month, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba reported sales worth 91.2bn yuan ($14.3bn; £9.4bn), a 60% increase from last year.

Online shopping

In the UK, retailers are expecting Black Friday to be the biggest shopping day of the year. Visa Europe said £1.9bn could be spent online and in-store on its cards alone.

There were some queues for early opening, but early data suggests there was more interest in internet sales.

Some discounts

were posted on retailers' websites from midnight and online sales in the first hour of the day were more than double last year, according to data from PCA Predict.

Cashback website Quidco said it had seen a 50% rise in clicks during the morning, compared with last year, with a particular rise in activity for sports retailers. 

Retail analyst Nick Bubb said: "It looks as if Black Friday spending has been more spread out this year and more weighted to online, but every indication is that the combined event will be bigger than last year overall.

"It is too soon to say whether the retail sector will be any better off in net terms once the dust settles."

More comprehensive data on shoppers' Black Friday spending will be published late on Sunday or early next week.