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Black Friday or Cyber Monday 2015: Which sales bonanza will be the biggest?
We are heading towards the weekend that retailers are pinning their hopes on. From November 27 we will see Black Friday, before heading into Super Sunday and finally Cyber Monday (apparently Saturday will be just so-so – at least, no one is mentioning it in their marketing).
In total, Visa Europe predicts this year's total Black Friday weekend spend is expected to be almost £2bn as online shoppers take to their mobiles, laptops and the streets over the four days.
The Nottingham-based Centre for Retail Research on behalf of VoucherCodes estimates sales for this year's sales will reach £1.39bn and that claim Britons will spend £2,887,500 per minute, while research firm Experian and e-retail industry association IMRG expect online sales to climb to £1.07bn.
Glen Burson, chief technology officer at commerce consultancy Salmon, has predicted this year's event to be the the UK's first ever £1bn shopping day.
Until last year Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day of the year, and had been since 2009. Black Friday is a young upstart for those in the UK, but with all the promotions, and the fact it includes in-store purchases, it looks set to extend its claim a sales bonanza in its own right. Super Sunday is unlikely to have quite the pulling power, but some retailers think it will be their best trading day.
Originated by US shoppers indulging in a post-Thanksgiving spending spree, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come to be days of heavy promotion and here in the UK too, with retailers are expecting big things. But when it comes to pulling power, which day will work harder?
Cyber Monday, for example, will take £629m online during that one day – an increase of 17 per cent on last year, and around £100 per person. Each punter will save around 15 per cent, Visa Europe says.
Looking purely online, Black Friday will struggle to match that amount. But when you factor in the impact of bricks and mortar, it tells another story.
CRR and Visa Europe were unable to provide data for physical stores, but a number of retailers are expecting Black Friday to supercede Cyber Monday this year.
But whichever way you cut it, sales on Black Friday, Super Sunday and Cyber Monday will pale into insignificance when compared to those enjoyed by Alibaba on China's Singles Day.