Brits to spend £210k every minute on Cyber Monday

British consumers are expected to spend a staggering £210,000 every minute on Cyber Monday next week, with more than 4.8m transactions to be processed throughout the day.

Today is known as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the US and the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season, when companies entice consumers with various discounts and offers.

In recent years, Black Friday has always been followed by Cyber Monday, a marketing-led strategy designed to get people to shop for their Christmas presents online.

According to a study by payments company Visa Europe, there will be 3,300 transactions every minute on November 28, with a record £3,500 expected to be spent every second.

Spending is expected to be up by 12% on last year's Cyber Monday, says Visa, despite the ongoing squeeze on spending in the tough economic climate.

Visa, which handles £1 in every £4 spent in the UK, expects a record £303m to be spent on Visa Cards during the busiest online shopping day of the year.

The company predicts a peak in online shopping activity at around 1pm during the work lunch hour, followed by another slightly smaller peak at 7pm as people return home.

"Online shopping on Visa cards is growing by approximately 30% year-on-year and it accounts for a fifth of all transactions on Visa cards," said Dr Steve Perry, the commercial director at Visa Europe.

"The volume of transactions we process on a daily basis as well as our historical trend data provide us with an incredible insight into consumer spending patterns."

After Cyber Monday, Visa believes that the busiest day for purchasing activity will be December 23, as consumers make the most of extended shopping hours to snap up gifts.

Meanwhile, the government today announced its new strategy for tacking cyber crime, including specialist security experts in the police and more measures to educate citizens about the threats.

Visa said that 'card-not-present' fraud, the crime that accounts for a large proportion of online scams, has fallen 8% this year as a result of increased online payment security.

However, the company urged customers to be extra vigilant when shopping online and only use services that they know are trustworthy, or can verify their credentials.

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