Shetland Islands tops list for UK’s biggest online shoppers over Black Friday weekend

Royal Mail today reveals the top ten areas where shoppers made the most online purchases over the Black Friday weekend this year. Bargain hunters in the Shetland Islands top the list of the UK's biggest online shoppers for the weekend, followed by shoppers in Kirkwall and St Albans. North West Londoners top the London list and Llandrindod Wells tops the Wales list. Four of the top ten hotspots are located in Scotland.

UK:

1. Shetland Islands
2. Kirkwall
3. St Albans
4. Hebrides
5. North West London
6. Kingston-upon-Thames
7. Llandrindod Wells
8. Redhill
9. Paisley
10. Guildford

Scotland:

1. Shetland Islands
2. Kirkwall
3. Hebrides
4. Paisley
5. Inverness

Wales:

1. Llandrindod Wells
2. Swansea
3. Cardiff
4. Newport
5. Llandudno

London:

1. North West London
2. Kingston-upon-Thames
3. Uxbridge
4. South West London
5. Twickenham

Black Friday continues to mark the start of the Christmas shopping season in the UK. According to recent research* from Royal Mail, belief that the event offers the best discount of the year is only one of the drivers for shoppers, with a third of people saying they shop during Black Friday as they like to get their Christmas shopping sorted early and one in five worried items on their wish list will sell out.

The top ten online shopping hotspots are based on analysis of parcels accepted into the Royal Mail network between 23 and 27 November from online retailers.

To help with deliveries during the busy Christmas shopping period, Royal Mail has recruited 16,000 seasonal workers, opened five temporary sorting centres and increased its fleet with an additional 6,800 vehicles. Over 1,000 office workers from functions such as HR, legal and marketing are also supporting with deliveries ahead of Christmas. These measures are about delivering the best possible service to customers throughout the Christmas period.

Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer at Royal Mail, said: "Christmas is Royal Mail's busiest period, with around double the normal volumes of parcels and stamped letters processed.

"At Royal Mail, we're geared up to help with all your festive preparations, whether that's delivering the presents that tens of millions of people will be shopping online for, or the nation's love and best wishes through Christmas cards."

Royal Mail is also celebrating Christmas 2023 with a series of five new stamps, inspired by traditional Christmas carols. These are the first Christmas stamps to feature the silhouette of His Majesty King Charles III.

The stamps are available at www.royalmail.com/christmas2023, by phone on 03457 641 641 and 7,000 Post Offices across the UK.

Shop Early and Post Early for Christmas:

Royal Mail is encouraging customers to order their online gifts and shopping well in advance, and to post their festive greetings early, to help its postmen and women deliver the bumper festive mailbag. Its latest recommended posting dates for mail to arrive in time for Christmas 2023 are:

Monday 18 December:

2nd Class

2nd Class Signed For

Wednesday 20 December:

1st Class

1st Class Signed For

Friday 22 December:

Special Delivery Guaranteed®

Further information is available at www.royalmail.com/greetings

Royal Mail delivering at Christmas:

Royal Mail's Parcel Collect service (https://www.royalmail.com/collection) is a convenient way to send parcels or returns this Christmas. With this service, posties collect parcels and returns from customers while they carry out their daily round. This means online sellers and online shoppers can mail or return a pre-paid item by post from the comfort of their own home. Royal Mail can also collect from a safe place. To make it even more convenient, if customers don't have a printer, posties can print and bring the label to the doorstep.

Royal Mail's Parcel Postboxes (https://www.royalmail.com/d8/parcel-post-boxes) are another option for sending parcels or return items.

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