Get set for another £1bn cyber spree!

After Black Friday saw shoppers desert the high street in favour of online, internet retailers look set for another windfall.

Firms predict that nearly £1billion will be spent on the web today as stores offer huge discounts for socalled Cyber monday.

Sales are expected be up by a third on last year, totalling around £943million, according to industry experts experian and IMRG.

It comes after Black Friday figures showed numbers visiting shops were down 10 per cent compared with 2014, while online traffic rose by 12 per cent.

and internet takings surpassed the £1billion mark for the first time, while amazon reported its biggest ever day of sales in the UK with 7.4million items ordered.

Yesterday the online retailer was offering ‘Black Friday refreshed’ discounts of up to 50 per cent on thousands of goods, with more deals promised today. offers included an armchair reduced by £221.01 to £327.99.

alex Baldock, the chief executive of Shop direct – which owns Littlewoods. com and online fashion chain Very.co.uk – said sales on Black Friday were up 36 per cent on last year. It offered up to 50 per cent off boots, jackets and jeans.

‘We have more great deals to unveil on Cyber monday,’ he added. ‘online was the big winner this year. after last year’s hectic time on the high street, people went for the ease of online instead.’

Cyber security experts, however, have warned shoppers to be wary of fraud during the digital spree. Sarah Stephens of insurance broker JLT Specialty said there is a ‘real and signifi- cant’ increase in the risk of becoming a victim. ‘It may be harder for companies to zero in on fraud as they may be overwhelmed by the volume of transactions,’ she said.

a spokesman for credit card group Visa europe said that more than £760million was spent online using Visa plastic on Friday – nearly 25 per cent more than last year.

Black Friday originated in the US, where many people start their Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Stores began to slash their prices as a result – moving the discounts online when they realised customers continued shopping from their desks on monday morning.

Chancellor George osborne has called on consumer group Which? to work with businesses to make their terms and conditions clearer, after research revealed that a third of shoppers say they are too confusing.