Online surge for Black Friday as stores see quiet start

The start of Black Friday has seen a surge in online shopping as many consumers again choose to avoid a potential stampede for in-store bargains.

Queues formed outside some outlets across the country early this morning but there was little sign of the mayhem that has characterised the discount day in the past - with a quiet start for many stores.

Analysts expect British shoppers to spend a record £2bn in just 24 hours.

Nationwide, Britain's biggest building society, said £71.3m was spent by its customers between midnight and 2pm, or £85,000 a minute, up 44% compared to a normal Friday.

There were nearly 1.6 million transactions, 13% up on Black Friday last year.

There have been days of discounting ahead of the main event as major brands battle for Christmas shoppers.

Once Cyber Monday draws to a close after the weekend, analysts predict an eye-watering £5.8bn will have been spent both online and on the high street.

Online shopping is again predicted to account for the majority of today's sales.

Department store John Lewis said it had seen stronger than expected online sales overnight and had been taking five orders every second.

Popular products included Sonos speakers and the Lego Simpsons house.

Argos said it saw its biggest trading hour ever between 12am and 1am when it had half a million visits to its website, up 50% year-on-year. Big sellers included games and games consoles.

Sebastian James, chief executive of Dixons Carphone - owner of Carphone Warehouse, Currys and PC World - tweeted that it had been a busy day in stores and online.

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Retailers will be hoping that their websites will cope under the strain of Black Friday, following a series of service outages last year.

John Lewis was one of the high-profile names in 2015 to suffer a service outage amid record traffic to its site. Tesco, Boots, Boohoo and Argos also experienced problems.

This time around, John Lewis says it has taken action to ensure all its customers enjoy a smooth shopping experience, with the chain also laying on extra staff in its 48 stores.

However, some of the high street's biggest names will not be joining the Black Friday bonanza - including Ikea, Next and Asda, the supermarket which takes the credit for bringing the craze over from the US back in 2013.

British shoppers are expected to spend £2.3m a minute - despite warnings that discounts might not be offering the value they claim. 

It has also been suggested that bargains could be thinner on the ground for next year's event, with prices inevitably moving higher unless there is a dramatic recovery in sterling.

Retail consultancy Fitch cited promised price rises from the likes of Apple and Microsoft, while a growing number of UK chains - Mothercare and Argos on Thursday alone - have also said prices are set to go up.

The problem for UK retailers is that the fall in the pound - up to 20% versus the dollar alone - has made the cost of importing goods more expensive.