Last year, Black Friday overtook Cyber Monday as Amazon.co.uk’s busiest day of the year for the first time

Black Friday 2014 (Friday 28th November) was Amazon.co.uk’s busiest day ever with more than 5.5 million items sold, at a rate of around 64 items per second, with sales peaking at 8.29am

London, 9th November 2015 – Amazon.co.uk is gearing up for its busiest week of the year with the return of Black Friday Deals Week, which will feature more than 7,000 deals, offering millions of pounds worth of savings in the run up to Christmas. For the first time, hundreds of UK-based Amazon Marketplace sellers have been invited to participate in Black Friday Deals Week, providing customers with an even larger selection of deals.

This year, Amazon.co.uk’s Black Friday Deals Week starts at 00:00 on Monday 23rd November and runs until 23:59 on Sunday 29th November. Shoppers will be offered ‘Lightning Deals’ - products available at a discount, in limited quantities, for a short period of time - as well as ‘Deals of the Day’ – selected products on offer for one day, from 00:01 to 23:59.

A much-anticipated date in the UK shopping calendar, Black Friday, which this year falls on Friday 27th November, is expected to be one of the busiest days ever at Amazon.co.uk.

In addition to the Black Friday Deals Week offers on Amazon.co.uk, selected deals will be available through Prime Now, Amazon’s app that offers one-hour delivery to Prime customers.  These offers will be available to eligible addresses in London and Birmingham from 8am to midnight.

Last year, Black Friday overtook Cyber Monday for the first time ever as Amazon.co.uk’s busiest day. More than 5.5 million items were sold on Black Friday 2014 (Friday 28th November), at a rate of 64 items per second. Sales on Amazon.co.uk peaked at 8.29am. The number of orders placed beat the previous all-time sales record set on Cyber Monday 2013, when more than 4.1 million items were ordered.

Amazon has been heavily investing in its UK infrastructure throughout 2015 to be ready for what is expected to be its biggest Christmas on record. This has included the opening of two new fulfilment centres in Dunstable and Doncaster. Amazon now employs more than 10,000 permanent employees in the UK.

“Customers love Black Friday. Every year we see more excitement and more demand for great deals. That is why we now have more than 20 times the number of deals than we had back in 2010 when we first introduced Black Friday to the UK,” said Christopher North, Managing Director of Amazon.co.uk. “Black Friday looks set to be the biggest sales day of the year. Last year we saw unprecedented demand for deals from the early hours of the morning through to the late hours of the night and we are confident that the trend will continue this year.”

Amazon.co.uk’s Black Friday Deals Week 2015 offers will be announced closer to the launch date.

The most popular deals in 2014 included the Kindle Fire HDX 7” range with £100 off selected models, as well as the Dolce Gusto Mini Me Coffee Capsule Machine, Toy Story Ultimate Action Buzz Lightyear, diamond jewellery and men’s watches.

To find out more about Black Friday:
Visit www.amazon.co.uk/blackfriday 
Subscribe to the Deals Newsletter 
Follow Amazon.co.uk on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AmazonUK  
Visit the Amazon.co.uk Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AmazonUK

Amazon Prime is already a popular service with millions of members in the UK. On a base of tens of millions, worldwide paid membership to Prime grew 53% last year. Prime members in the UK enjoy unlimited One-Day Delivery on millions of items, unlimited streaming of more than 15,000 popular movies and TV shows through Prime Instant Video, access to one million songs to stream and download through Prime Music, unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive, and access to more than one million books to borrow for free with the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Customers can sign up for the Amazon Prime free 30-day trial at www.amazon.co.uk/prime.

Prime Now is currently available to eligible addresses in London and Birmingham. All Prime members can immediately download the Prime Now app, available on iOS and Android devices, to find eligible delivery postcodes and request notification when the service is available in their area. Customers can also visit www.amazon.co.uk/primenow. Prime Now customers can choose delivery within one hour of ordering for £6.99, or free delivery within a choice of two-hour delivery slots between 8am and midnight, seven days a week.

Prime Now is made available through Amazon Logistics, Amazon's technology and logistics platform that empowers independent local, regional and national delivery companies across the UK to deliver Amazon parcels to customers seven days a week.

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For further information, interviews, or product imagery please contact:
Letitia Thomas at Mission
T: 020 7845 7800
E: letitia@thisismission.com | amazon2015@thisismission.com

About Amazon.co.uk
For further information please contact:
Amazon UK Press Office
Email: pressoffice@amazon.co.uk
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About Amazon
Amazon.com opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.