Black Friday WASHOUT: World goes crazy for bargain bog roll and TVs but UK stores are DEAD
BLACK FRIDAY sales have got underway across the world and American shoppers have gone crazy for bargain bog roll and cheap TVs - but here in the UK it is a long way from the madness across the pond.
Black Friday customers in the US and UK
At 5am in Newcastle, Tesco opened its doors for deal hunters to snap up their bargains. However it was a disappointing turn out for the supermarket giant, with security guards outweighing the handful of customers.
A pile of reduced Blaupunkt HD Smart TVs were left untouched.
Eager to beat the rush, the Bullring in Birmingham opened three hours early at 7am for eager shoppers - only to witness queues at Greggs bakery.
Shoppers reach for television sets in Brazil
Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield empty on Black Friday
Eager to beat the rush, the Bullring in Birmingham opened three hours early at 7am for eager shoppers - only to witness queues at Greggs bakery
Elsewhere in south London, staff at a massive Tesco hired festival-style security barriers to help deal with the Black Friday rush - only for a handful of people to turn up and wait patiently outside.
Around 12 people waited to get their hands on bargains outside the Tesco Extra in Surrey Quays, the venue where police were called to deal with Black Friday riots between shoppers two years ago.
It could not be further away from the chaotic scenes witnessed in the US and South Africa, where people were reportedly left injured in a stampede after hundreds of shoppers burst the doors open at supermarket Checkers.
The annual sales event has been associated with bedlam as shoppers in previous years packed into stores, pushing and shoving to get their hands on the latest deals.
In 2014, police even had to shut down Tesco Silverburn, in Glasgow, when customers started fighting over sales.
Shoppers eager to catch a bargain in Utah
Martin Lewis has some great Black Friday deals
But this year the shopping bonanza has been much more subdued. Fourteen million British shoppers were expected to take part in the day of sales and are predicted to have spent a total of £1.96 billion.
Experts forecast that shoppers will spend a massive £5.8 billion in total over the next days, which will culminate with Cyber Monday. But stores around the UK have been left red-faced as the predicted crowds failed to turn up.
Social media has been flooded with pictures of empty lines, with more staff present then shoppers.
Shoppers in Manhattan, New York
The Trafford Centre in Manchester was lifeless on Black Friday
Tesco was surprisingly quiet on Black Friday
Retailers are instead reporting a surge in online sales as customers choose to bargain hunt from the comfort of their own home.
John Rogers, the new chief executive officer of Argos, told BBC Radio 4 that there had been a 50 per cent surge from last year in online shopping between midnight and 1pm.
He said he expected traffic to surge in the morning, with punters using their mobiles to shop online. Last year, the websites of several major retailers, including Argos and Boots, crashed as the volume of shoppers peaked.