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Scottish consumers get Black Friday fever

Monday, November 26, 2012 - 11:11 by Sarah Collinson

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You may have heard about Black Friday, which is one of America's busiest shopping days of the year, with major retailer discounts responsible for serious crushes at bricks and mortar outlets.

The trend seems to be catching on in the UK, particularly in Scotland, where it is estimated that at least 17 million was spent online at the end of last week.

On average, the daily online taking in Scotland hits 13 million, but this was up by a significant margin on Friday, as consumers rushed to take advantage of low prices ahead of the Christmas holidays.

This figure comes courtesy of the Centre for Retail Research, with spokesperson, Professor Joshua Bamfield, explaining that there are a number of reasons for consumers to use safe shopping online at this point in time.

This includes the desire to order Christmas gifts early enough to ensure that they arrive in time for the big day, as well as the need to make sure that all of the discounts and deals offered by retailers like Amazon are not missed.

Amazon itself might be in a spot of bother this festive season, since the revelations surrounding its tax affairs in the UK have led many to turn to alternative e-commerce sites, as part of a growing boycott.

Since there is so much choice in the market, those who do feel obliged to use one of Amazon's rivals will not be short on choice. This could even provide a big boost for the likes of eBay and Play.com during the final weeks of 2012.

Across Scotland and the rest of the UK, people have been spending millions this weekend, netting the retailers some serious cash, as they look to recover from a relatively weak year of continued trading.