Shoppers told to rise early to beat the crash

CYBER MONDAY bargain hunters were told to do their shopping before work today amid warnings popular websites were likely to crash.

The John Lewis, Boots, Game and Calvin Klein websites failed last year under the pressure of the large number of people browsing for deals at once. Many websites were expected to suffer the same fate today.

Paul Lewis, from website Vouchercodes, advised logging on as early as possible.

He said: “Websites will buckle under the pressure of demand. Shoppers should go online at 7am, before going to work.”

Black Friday saw a record £2.6 billion spent with the value of transactions up eight per cent on last year, Barclaycard said. Cyber Monday is expected to reach similar heights. Lisa Hooker, retail and consumer expert at PWC, said it would be the biggest Cyber Monday to date in the UK.

She said: “It’s not really Black Friday and Cyber Monday any more. It is more like Black Fortnight.

“We expect to see an increase in spending again today and, in particular, with the chilly weather we expect to see a lot of money spent on clothing.”

Dr Amna Khan, a senior lecturer in marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University, said the now established annual shopping events were resulting in a huge shift in seasonal spending.

She said: “Customer don’t have infinite resources. What it means is that people are spending more now and not so much in the Boxing Day and January sales.”