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John Lewis Marks & Spencer Black Friday

Shoppers expected to spend £6K per second as UK retailers slash prices for Black Friday

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By Jessica Davies | News Editor

November 22, 2014 | 2 min read

Christmas shoppers are expected to splash out £6,000 per second one day next week as retailers push the boat out for Black Friday, according to reports.

The US retail tradition, which sees stores slash the costs of goods to encourage more buyers, was introduced to the UK in 2010, and major retailers including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Asda, and Siansbury’s have already confirmed they will be offering deals and discounts.

The discount event, which takes place on 28 November, will see retailers promote 3,000 deals with prices cut by an average 40 per cent, according to The Times.

Meanwhile eBay has predicted that more than seven million shoppers will visit its website to catch deals on Friday.

Forrester has forecast that Christmas shoppers will spend approxinately £55bn online this year.

Ahead of the Black Friday and holiday spending frenzy brand protection firm MarkMonitor has warned shoppers to be cautious when searching online that they are not ripped off.

Below are the tips they have outlined for shoppers:

  • Use extra caution when looking for deals. Using the terms ‘cheap’ or ‘discount’ can lead you to sites where the prices seem too good to be true, meaning the goods may be fake.
  • It’s all about the details. Some sites look really professional at first glance, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find that brandjackers aren’t always so careful about the “About” or a “FAQ” pages. Also check the spelling of the URL as fraudsters are known to purchase domain names that have slight misspellings of a brand name to trick customers in a technique known as “typosquatting”.
  • What’s your return policy? Take a look at the return policy. Reputable sites have upfront explanations of their policies.
  • What’s the word on the street? Search for reviews of the site and include the term ‘scam’ with the site name. Find out if a site has a bad online reputation.
John Lewis Marks & Spencer Black Friday

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