Boohoo.com

Instant gratification is likely to hit a new high this Friday, in London at least. That’s conclusion of a new Barclaycard survey showing that Londoners are going to be ‘self-gifting’ like crazy and are more focused on spending their Black Friday cash on themselves, than on friends and family.

Reported in the Evening Standard, the survey showed Britain’s capital is leading Britain’s Black Friday charge with 84% of Londoners planning to ‘self-gift’ as they track down deals, 63% buying for their partner and 58% for their family.

And what are they going to buy? TVs, phones and other electronics are top of the list with 32% of people hunting them down. But fashion and jewellery is a close second on 30%.

And there was further evidence that online is a disproportionately large feature of major shopping events – 46% of Londoners will cut out physical stores and do their Black Friday shopping online. That makes perfect sense of course. Unlike the US, this Friday isn’t a holiday in Britain so it looks like lunchtime and the morning/evening commute will see heavy traffic to m-commerce sites.

Last year 37.5% of Black Friday sales in the UK happened online and as well as the rise in online sales overall this year, analysts expect sales through smartphones to go through the roof.