Bargain-hunters in Aberdeen and Inverness appear to have shied away from the shops and turned to their keyboards in vast numbers on “Black Friday”.
The Granite City topped the charts for online shopping in Scotland last Friday, with the Highland capital hot on its heels in second place.
The two cities were also the only places north of the border to make the UK’s “Cyber Friday” top 10 – with Aberdeen coming in sixth and Inverness in eighth.
Royal Mail calculated the figures by analysing the number of packages bought, packaged and shipped to each postcode.
In Scotland, Aberdeen and Inverness were followed by Perth in third, Dumfries in fourth and Kirkcaldy in fifth.
Rob Jenson, Royal Mail’s operations director for the north region, said: “Last weekend a huge volume of online purchases were picked, packed and shipped by retailers around the country.
“And today, thousands of shoppers across Scotland will be receiving their Black Friday purchases.
“Bargain hunters in Aberdeen and Inverness topped the list of this year’s biggest Black Friday online shoppers in Scotland.
“We know there are more parcels still to come, but as of today more addresses in Aberdeen and Inverness are set to welcome a Black Friday purchase than anywhere else in Scotland.”
Norwich topped the UK charts, followed by Dorchester, Exeter, Bournemouth and Swansea.
Stewart Nicol, chief executive of Inverness Chamber of Commerce, said: “This is a very positive indicator of how the local economy is doing and it’s great to see that.
“It’s a really positive endorsement of what is going on in the Highlands.”
Across the UK, Royal Mail reported that it had opened 10 dedicated parcel sort centres, recruited an additional 19,000 temporary staff and increased its fleet by nearly 15 per cent, with 6,800 extra vehicles to support its Christmas operation.
Retail giant Amazon reported record figures on Friday, with more than 7.4million items ordered, leading to its biggest sales day ever in the UK
Spending online was predicted to have soared by 31% on last year to £943million.
Ends