After Black Friday's battles in the supermarket aisles comes the online shopping marathon. Suzanne McGonagle takes a look at what to expect today on 'Cyber Monday'
ARE you one of the millions of shoppers who will today have your debit card ready and at a click of a mouse will launch into Christmas shopping?
After the retail frenzy of Black Friday when the festive shopping season kicked off with a bang, the virtual gift battle now intensifies with the arrival of Cyber Monday.
As the name suggests, the action takes place online where shop-pers will try to snap up bargains released by many retailers.
Today has become the date when consumers rush to purchase items online to ensure gifts arrive in time for Christmas.
It has also become part of a massive weekend of shopping sprees as retailers bank on consumers using their pre-Christmas pay packets to do their festive shopping.
In Northern Ireland, research has suggested that almost a third
of online shoppers have held off on Christmas shopping until December.
By contrast, the study by Royal Mail found that 10 per cent started their present buying in the summer, with six per cent admitting to starting in the St Stephen's Day sales last year.
It is predicted that today will be the biggest online shopping day of the year.
However, Cyber Monday is likely to be a calmer affair than the frenzied scenes witnessed in many stores last Friday.
Around six million people across the UK are expected to log onto the internet and spend around £650 million on the latest pre-Christmas deals, with sales expected to outstrip those of Black Friday.
Noon is expected to be the busiest time for online retailers, as it has been for the past two years.
Amazon said Black Friday was the busiest day ever on its UK website, with more than 5.5 million items ordered at a rate of 64 items a second.
But the online giant said it expects Cyber Monday sales to smash this record - and it will be offering new deals every 10 minutes throughout the day.
A spokeswoman said: "Cyber Monday has been the biggest day of the year for internet retailers but the incredible success of Black Friday means that it will have to be a huge day for that to be the case this year."
? Netting a Bargain ? P32