Cyber Monday: Sales chaos continues as bargain hunters go online after Black Friday

Workers pack orders on the warehouse floor at the Amazon UK Fulfilment Centre in Peterborough (Picture: PA Wire)

Britain is bracing for a Cyber Monday meltdown as bargain hunters are expected to make a record 145 million website visits in just 24 hours.

The sale madness – which previously saw shoppers brawling in aisles to get their hands on heavily discounted goods on Black Friday – continues online.

Half of all major retailers’ websites crashed or experienced technical problems on Friday, but around 21 million more visits are expected on Monday.

Online shoppers are set to spend £650 million during the country’s busiest ever online shopping day, the online retail industry body IMRG said.

Online retailers are preparing to meet extremely high demand (Picture: PA Wire)

The two work day sales could cost UK businesses £177 million in lost productivity, as distracted staff hunt for deals.

Darryl Adie, managing director of ecommerce consultants Ampersand, said: ‘Black Friday dramatically caught out even the websites of the UK’s biggest retailers by surprise.

‘IT staff are working on problems over the weekend – but Monday has higher traffic levels predicted and there could be a greater number of retailers whose websites struggle.’