Shoppers set to smash Scottish record for ‘Super Saturday’ spend
Scottish retailers are bracing for a pre-christmas shopping bonanza as customers prepare to shell out more than a million pounds in a lastminute festive spending spree on one of the most important weekends of the retail calendar.
Experts forecast this year’s ‘Super Saturday’ could be the busiest on record. More than a million shoppers across Scotland are expected to seek out the best last-minute deals.
And analysts predict retailers plan to cash in on a panicbuying windfall by slashing prices across the board as they aim to recover from a disappointing pre-christmas period with discounts of up to 70 per cent expected at some high street brands.
Research by vouchercodes. co.uk and the Centre For Retail Research found Scottish shoppers are planning to spend upwards of £1.2m on a frantic weekend.
The survey also predicted today would beat the record for the 2014 shopping high of 1.1m in Scotland before December 25.
A further 300,000 will spend big online.
Shoppers already caused chaos on ‘Frenzied Friday’ at Fort Kinnaird retail park in Edinburgh as police were forced to direct traffic around the area when thousands arrived for a last-minute panic-buying push.
Bosses at the centre said up to 70,000 passed through the doors. A further 80,000 were expected to visit its 70 stores today on what management are describing as the “busiest shopping day of the year”.
Elsewhere in Scotland, up to 200,000 are expected to descend on Glasgow’s St Enoch centre with a further 80,000 heading to Intu Braehead and around 70,000 arrivingatunionsquareaberdeen.
High street stores including Next and Oasis are set to slash the cost of some products by up to 70 per cent in an attempt to attract shoppers back after reduced footfall last month, while the likes of Topshop and River Island could halve prices in store.
Customers can also expect larger stores to operate longer opening times as retailers look to cash in before most close at
“Retailers are pinning their hopes on festive shoppers coming out in force for the final and most important shopping weekend before Christmas”