Following another massive Black Friday sales period, Nationwide has issued a warning to its members, urging them to remain “vigilant” in the run up to Christmas.
Customers made 31.2 million transactions over the Black Friday weekend, the popular building society has revealed, up nearly two million from last year.
Meanwhile, the actual day (28 November) saw a record 11.9 million transactions, up 8.7 per cent from last year’s 10.9 million.
This pick up in spending activity would suggest a similar trend to follow on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 December, Nationwide says, adding that it is expecting 20.6 million transactions on these two days.
Commenting on the data, Mark Nalder, service, operations & performance director at Nationwide said: “Despite continued lower consumer confidence as we head towards Christmas, it’s encouraging to see that we’re expecting higher volumes of spending on Christmas shopping than the previous year. These peak periods will be incredibly busy days for retailers as consumers race to finish their shopping.”
However, the building society has also urged shoppers to be wary of a rising number of potential scams over the Christmas period. Fake deals threaten to ruin the festive period for those rushing to get their presents, it warns.
Mr Nalder said: “It’s also more important than ever to pause and think before making a purchase to ensure that you’re paying the best price and to be on the lookout for potential scams, whether that is in-person, online shopping, or on social media.”
“Platforms like Snapchat and Telegram showed the largest year-on-year increase in reported social media scams according to our data so it’s important that shoppers remain vigilant for any deals that seem too good to be true.”
In the face of this rising issue, Nationwide has issued its top tips to all Christmas shoppers this year:
- Be sceptical of urgency – scammers often apply pressure to act fast
- Use secure payment methods and try to avoid bank transfers
- Report suspicious activity to bank/building society and Action Fraud immediately
- When possible, shoppers can check with their building society or bank before making any payment.
The building society points to its 24/7 fraud line, alongside its Scam Checker service, which guarantees that if customers check a payment is legitimate beforehand, and then get scammed, the bank will refund them fully.
Consumer experts have also advised shoppers to assess festive offers this season, as recent research from Which? revealed that many available deals were actually cheaper at another time of the year.
