• Retailers rejoice: Bargain hunters to spend a combined 15 per cent more on sales weekend than in 2015
• High street boost: £2.97 billion to be spent offline from Black Friday through to Cyber Monday, with online sales reaching £2.79 billion
• Cyber madness: 15 million to shop on Cyber Monday alone splashing £1.1 billion – up 11 per cent on 2015
• Savvy savers: VoucherCodes.co.uk customers expected to make a huge £200,400 worth of savings on Cyber Monday

As the nation heads towards one of the busiest retail weekends of the year, new research from VoucherCodes.co.uk and the Centre for Retail Research reveals that Brits are set to splash an expected £5.8 billion over the four days – an increase of 15 per cent on last year. Kicking off with Black Friday (25^th November) and finishing on Cyber Monday (28^th November), the four days will see Brits hunting for deals in their millions across the UK – with 15 million searching for deals on Cyber Monday alone.

Online & Offline sales boom

Online retailers are set to bank a boon over the four days, with online spending expected to reach a huge £2.8 billion – up 20 per cent from £2.3 billion on 2015. Brits are also expected to outspend other key European markets by a huge 37 per cent over the course of the four days. Although online retailers are expected to enjoy the biggest jump when compared to 2015, the high street remains the preferred choice for many bargain hunters, with shoppers splurging a predicted £2.97 billion in shopping centres, department stores and high streets across the UK over the course of the four days – up 10.5 per cent on last year.

Cyber Monday madness

With Black Friday traditionally the biggest single day for offline spending, a large proportion of online spend will happen on Cyber Monday, when shoppers scouring the net are expected to splash £1.2 billion – an increase on the £1 billion spent in 2015. Although Cyber Monday is traditionally an online shopping day, Brits are still expected to hit the high street in their droves to bag a bargain, with spending set to reach £758 million – making the total expected spend for the discount day a huge £1.9 billion, up 11 per cent on last year. As retailers increasingly optimise their technology to cater for ‘mobile first’ consumers, over half of those shopping on Cyber Monday (53 per cent) will be searching for deals on goods including TVs, tablets, clothes and beauty products via their mobile devices.

	Expected offline/online spend for the 2016 Cyber Weekend (in millions)
	Black Friday	Sat/ Sun	Cyber Monday	2016 total	Weekend increase from 2015
UK online	£1,002	£634	£1,157	£2,793	20.7%
UK offline	£961	£1,249	£758	£2,968	10.5%
Total	£1,963	£1,883	£1,915	£5,761	15.2%

The Cyber Weekend, culminating in Cyber Monday, is also one of the biggest shopping events of the year for VoucherCodes.co.uk. In 2015, the site’s customers saved approximately £185,000 in total from deals made on the site on Cyber Monday, with this figure set to rise to around £200,400 this year. The site is expecting to see a surge in visitors after working hours as deal-hunters log on from the comfort of their sofas – last year, traffic peaked at 9pm as customers searched for deals on items including women’s fashion, health & beauty and gifts.

Manic Monday

Brits may be gearing up to shop in their millions this weekend, however retailers will continue to enjoy a festive spending boost into December. The first Monday of the month, dubbed ‘Manic Monday’ (5^th December) is a key time for getting online orders in to ensure they’re delivered in time for Christmas, with the research revealing that online spending is set to reach £494 million on this day as a predicted 5 million shoppers log on to snap up festive goods.

Preparation is essential

A separate online survey by YouGov in conjunction with VoucherCodes.co.uk reveals that the weekend’s bargain-hunters are taking no chances; ensuring they are as prepared as possible for their shopping spree. Just over a third (34 per cent) of those planning a Cyber Monday spree say they will have a list of items they’re looking for in advance, 28 per cent will have money set aside to spend, while nearly one in five (17 per cent) will sign up to newsletters to ensure they know about the best deals before the day itself.

“Black Friday, Cyber Monday and other key discount shopping dates have seen a huge increase in popularity in the UK over recent years, with retailers bolstering the number of deals they have on offer to meet the consumer appetite for pre-Christmas discounts,” said Claire Davenport, Managing Director at VoucherCodes.co.uk. “This year is set to be one of the biggest yet, with Brits expected to spend a huge £5.7 billion over the course of the four-day weekend on items including personal technology, computer games and clothing.

“The ecommerce space is going from strength to strength, shown in the fact that online sales are set to be up by 20 per cent as more people opt to shop from the comfort of their couch. At VoucherCodes.co.uk, we’re preparing to meet demand by having a dedicated team working over the weekend – we’ll have 70 people scouring the web for all the best deals for our members. Last year, we added over 7,000 deals to the site and we expect this year will be even bigger.”