Black Friday 2016 predicted to be UK's biggest online shopping day

In the run up to Christmas 2016, Black Friday will be the biggest online shopping day in the UK, according to a new forecast released by Adobe.

by Helen Leggatt

Consumers in the UK will spend £24.3billion (US$29.5billion) on Black Friday this year, according to Adobe's latest Digital Insights study. That's 10% more than last year.

It has taken just three years for Black Friday to significantly change British consumers' festive spending habits. Now, it has become the biggest shopping day of the festive period. Revenues are expected to reach £901 million (US$1.09 billion) this year, driven by aggressive promotions and also because the date falls close to the last payday before Christmas.

Meanwhile, Adobe predicts the mobile shopping will peak on Christmas Day 2016, accounting for 34% more mobile revenue than Black Friday and 58% more than Cyber Monday.

Globally, Cyber Monday will break records this year, predicts Adobe, and is set to be the largest shopping day ever. The day is set to generate $3.36 billion in sales - 9.4% growth on last year. Sales on Thanksgiving Day will increase 15.6% YoY to $2 billion while Black Friday is predicted to grow 11.3% YoY to $3.05 billion.

"It's more important than ever that retailers deliver consistent, easy and compelling experiences on every single device that a customer uses in order to avoid missing out on their share of the growing online spend," says John Watton, EMEA marketing director at Adobe. "Consumers are more spoilt for choice and well-informed than ever, and they'll quickly go elsewhere if they're not getting the experience they want."