And finally…work duties no obstacle to British Black Friday bargains

A study of 2000 people in the UK has found that people aiming for the best Black Friday deals intend to shop online during work time.

The survey undertaken by Stop Procrastinating, the productivity website, found that 64 per cent of respondents admitted that they intend to use work time to browse the internet for the best Black Friday deals instead of working.

While 35 per cent of respondents admitted to spending at least four hours of work time browsing for deals during Black Friday last year and they intend to spend the same or more this year.

44 per cent believed that they wouldn’t do that much work on black Friday as they’d be too distracted by shopping to get the best deals.

Black Friday online shoppers have developed a range of techniques to appear to be undertaking work when they are not:

• 32 per cent said they intended to have a number of Internet browser windows open on their computer screen so they could flip between work and shopping websites.

• 27 per cent said that they would use their smart phone in the office toilet to make a black Friday online purchase.

• 6 per cent admitted they would take a sick day in order to shop during black Friday.

• 12 per cent said they would stay up until the earlier hours to shop online during Black Friday and were prepared to be late or tried at work the next day due to lack of sleep.

Tim Rollins, director at Stop Procrastinating, said: “The pressure to buy online on Black Friday has clearly had an impact on concentration levels at work. With big deals, the pressure to browse the Internet than work is overwhelming for some,” he said.

Consultants Experian and online retail group IMRG are forecasting online purchases will hit £1.07bn, the first time they have passed £1bn in one day.

Visa Europe said £1.9bn could be spent online and in-store on its cards alone.

Last year’s Black Friday saw shoppers fighting over bargains, websites crashing and delivery companies struggling to cope.

Consultants Experian and online retail group IMRG are forecasting online purchases will hit £1.07bn, the first time they have passed £1bn in one day.

Visa Europe said £1.9bn could be spent online and in-store on its cards alone.

Last year’s Black Friday saw shoppers fighting over bargains, websites crashing and delivery companies struggling to cope.