Cyber spree eclipses Christmas splurge...
Scots bargain hunters splash out a record £730m
‘It shows little sign of waning’
CYBER Monday weekend is now bigger than Christmas for shopping – with Scots bargain hunters splurging a record £730million between Black Friday and today.
It is expected the total, up £24million on last year, will be more than Scots spend in the days leading up to the Christmas and New Year sales.
Figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for VoucherCodes indicate that on Cyber Monday – Amazon’s biggest shopping day of the year – Scots will spend around £254million.
This comes after shoppers blew £221million on Friday, around £170million on Saturday and £85million yesterday. This is set to beat the £680million Scots are expected to spend across the four-day Christmas period – December 23, 24, 26 and 27.
The FCA said: ‘Data based on over a billion customer transactions shows the UK spends more during the Black Friday weekend than any other weekend of the year.’ VoucherCodes said Black
Friday weekend has ‘exploded since 2013’ and ‘its popularity shows little signs of waning’. But it seems the UK cannot make up its mind on whether to wholeheartedly adopt the US phenomenon. Experts say retailers are fighting with each other to slash prices ahead of Christmas – hitting their profit margins.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, of the Centre for Retail Research, said: ‘Consumers are savvy and know discounts do not happen just on Black Friday any more, but on other days also.
‘Consumers like to compare prices before buying. Stores may even show shoppers competitors’ online prices, but many shoppers find buying online easy.’
It appears only around half of the UK’s population are interested in the offers over the weekend, according to a PWC survey.
This is significantly lower than other participating countries, such as South Africa (88 per cent) and Germany (77 per cent).
It found Scotland is the fourth most interested UK region, with 54 per cent of people saying they plan to look for or snap up a bargain, compared with 67 per cent of Londoners, 57 per cent of shoppers in Yorkshire and Humber and 55 per cent in the North West of England. People in almost every region, including Scotland, plan to spend more than last year.
The survey also revealed Londoners typically plan to spend £326 while shoppers north of the Border expect to fork out around £155 in the festive season.
Meanwhile, Citizens Advice Scotland urged shoppers to be careful about getting into debt. Spokesman Myles Fitt said: ‘Remember – Christmas on credit could mean a debt hangover in the New Year.’