Amazon Black Friday deals deliver busiest day ever as shoppers surge online ahead of Cyber Monday
It's not even Cyber Monday yet, but Amazon has clocked up its busiest ever day of sales in the UK thanks to Black Friday, selling 64 items every second yesterday.
Shoppers ordered more than 5.5 million items such as TVs, tablets and toys with huge price reductions, beating last year’s Black Friday sales of four million items.
The record figures surpassed Amazon's previous busiest ever day when it sold 4.1 million items, or 47 items every second, on Cyber Monday last year.
Amazon’s vice president of EU retail Xavier Garambois said: "Ever since we introduced Black Friday to the UK in 2010, sales have increased year-on-year but this year really has surpassed all of our expectations. The public's appetite for Black Friday has been bigger than ever, kicking off the Christmas shopping period in earnest and establishing Black Friday as a fixture on the UK Christmas shopping calendar."
Amazon began its Black Friday deals on more than 3,000 items at the beginning of the week, offering savvy shoppers new sale items every 10 minutes.
While Black Friday has traditionally offered deals in stores and Cyber Monday additional discounts online, many retailers have offered deals on their websites earlier than the first Monday of Decemeber to cash in on the Black Friday frenzy.
With Cyber Monday still ahead, will it once again surpass a record breaking Black Friday for Amazon?
"Cyber Monday has been the biggest day of the year for internet retailers but the incredible success of Black Friday means that it will have to be a huge day for that to be the case this year," an Amazon spokesperson said. "We are ready for whatever the day brings with thousands of members of the Amazon team across the UK prepped and ready to pick, pack and deliver the millions of items that will be ordered."
John Lewis said it expected to break online sales records yesterday, having experienced a 300 per cent increase in web traffic in the first six hours of Black Friday.
Tesco, Argos and Currys also offered deals online but struggled to keep their websites up and running under the weight of so many visitors.
Sainsbury’s and Asda meanwhile offered deals that were available only in stores.
Asda is also offering additional deals today, naming the day Black Saturday. Many shoppers queued up outside the supermarket from 4am this morning to grab the bargains however scenes of fighting and overcrowding seen yesterday were not repeated again today.