Visa Europe: 31 mil. online transactions on Visa cards will reach £1.7bn on Cyber Weekend in UK only

According to Visa Europe, over £1 in every £3 in the UK is spent on a Visa cards. The UK’s love affair with online shopping will reach a new high on Friday 28th November 2014 – Black Friday – when it is predicted that £518m will be spent on Visa cards, making it the biggest day for e-commerce in UK history. Visa Europe predicts that online transactions will top 8.5 million on the day, up 22% on 2013, and expects that Friday 28th November will see £360,000 spent every minute, or £6,000 every second, on Visa cards. Online shopping will peak between 19.00 – 20.00.

Black Friday will be followed by £500m spent online on 1st December – also known as Mega Monday. In total, the UK will experience a £1.7 billion Cyber Weekend with a record 31 million online transactions predicted. As with 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.

A promotions phenomenon that originated in the USA, Black Friday took a significant leap forward in the UK in 2013. In 2014, retailers look set to build on it further, extending the UK’s annual e-commerce peak over a full weekend.
Visa bases its predictions on up to the minute spending data and previous years’ Christmas spending trends. Over £1 in every £3 in the UK is spent on a Visa card, making this data the most reliable indicator of trends in consumer spending.

Kevin Jenkins, Managing Director UK & Ireland at Visa Europe, said:
“Black Friday has become the UK’s biggest online shopping day and we’re forecasting £518m to be spent this year. Following a jump last year, retailers are making a bigger Friday push this time around.
“At the same time, Mega Monday, which used to be the biggest online shopping day, will reach its own new high this year, surpassing £500m. Altogether, we are looking at a £1.7bn Cyber Weekend. “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. Overall, online shopping now accounts for more than 25% of spend with Visa in the UK, signifying the confidence that consumers have in the security of online payments and in the delivery of goods.”

Visa Europe is a payments technology business owned and operated by member banks and other payment service providers from 37 countries across Europe. There are 500m Visa cards in Europe, while €1 in every €6.50 spent in Europe is on a Visa card. In the year to September 2013, total expenditure on Visa cards reached €2 trillion, while point-of-sale spend increased by 8.5% to €1.4 trillion. Annual online spending on Visa cards continues to grow (20% year-on-year) and now stands at €240bn.