UK to Register Record £518m Online Sales on Black Friday, Surpassing Mega Monday: Visa Europe

UK is set to log record online sales on Black Friday, surpassing that of Mega Monday, as the tech savvy country is increasing its use of smartphones and tablets to place orders online.

On 28 November, the country would spend £518m ($812.8m, €653.4m) on visa cards in online shopping, with online transactions increasing 22% year-on-year to more than 8.5 million, according to payment processing firm Visa Europe. That will be the biggest day for e-commerce in UK history.

On 1 December, which is known as Mega Monday, Britons will spend a further £500m online, taking total sales during the Cyber Weekend to £1.7bn with a record 31 million online transactions predicted. Mega Monday used to be the biggest online shopping day for the UK.

As compared to Black Friday, Mega Monday will see transactions peak in the evening as shoppers go online after returning from work, or increasingly shop on their smartphones on the commute home, Visa Europe said.

"This year is also likely to see continued growth in shopping via tablets and smartphones, with commuters using the journey home to shop for their loved ones," said Kevin Jenkins, managing director of UK & Ireland at Visa Europe.

Jenkins added that online shopping now accounts for more than 25% of transactions with Visa in the UK.

Visa noted that over £1 in every £3 in the UK is spent on a Visa card, and therefore its data is a reliable indicator of trends in consumer spending. The company bases its predictions on up to the minute spending data and previous years' Christmas spending trends.

Black Friday, the Friday following Thanksgiving Day, is a promotions phenomenon originated in the US. Both online and brick-and-mortar retailers use promotions to woo people and increase sales starting from Black Friday to the following Monday – a period known as Cyber Weekend.

Black Friday took a significant leap forward in the UK in 2013, with a significant sales figure.