Black Friday becomes Slack Friday as Scots plan time off to bag bargains

BARGAIN-LOVING Scots say they will spend an average of £356 over the Black Friday weekend, with over a quarter planning time off work. And those who do turn up for work, 10% will spend up to an hour of company time hunting for deals.

Twenty-eight per cent of those who plan to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday say they will take some time off work, with 13% booking a whole day off a quarter.

Employees plan to spend an average of 14 minutes of work time browsing for deals.

With just one week to go before the big day, the average shopper in Scotland expects to spend £159 before the day itself and will spend £356 in total.

Peak time for Black Friday shopping will be 10.22am, according to a survey for Digital Commerce Platform Kooomo (www.kooomo.com).

Over half (37%) of shoppers in Scotland say they have spent more than expected on previous Black Fridays.

Just a third (31%) of shoppers in Scotland make a list before going online bargain hunting, nearly one in three (29%) have a vague idea of what they want – but two-fifths (40%) impulsively buy whatever they see at the time.

Just 13% of Scots will shop on the High Street on Black Friday, with 53% opting to shop via laptop, 34% via desktop and 10% on their phone.

Tech is the most popular (51%) item to buy on Black Friday, followed by clothes (27%), homeware (20%) and cosmetics (20%).

Ciaran Bollard, CEO of Kooomo Digital Commerce Platform said: “It’s clear that there is an ever-growing appetite for Black Friday deals amongst shoppers. The statistics demonstrate that consumer behaviour has dramatically shifted from offline to online, hence the mammoth spikes in web traffic over the course of a couple of hours – customers want to get in, pick up exactly what they want, and get out.

“So, retailers need to keep up with the demand – from ensuring that their online stores can handle a surge in traffic, to making sure all websites are optimised for mobile, and everything in between. Ultimately, you get out of Black Friday what you put into it, so whether you’re a consumer or a retailer, planning is absolutely key.”