SCOTS SPEND BIG ON BOXING DAY £587,000 EVERY MINUTE

Thousands hit Boxing Day sales and splash average £236 per head | Footfall is down but shoppers shell out an incredible £4.6billion

- DAN VEVERS

BOXING Day bargain hunters shelled out £587,000 a minute in stores and online yesterday.

Barclays Bank said the average shopper was expected to fork out £236 amounting to a £4.6billion spree across the UK.

Big bargains on offer around the country may have helped retailers make the most of the festive period, although overall footfall was down on last year.

Shopping centre bosses were upbeat, with David Pierotti of Glasgow's Silverburn saying: "Retailers have really pulled out all the stops."

A GlobalData Retail study for VoucherCodes.co.uk suggested as many as 1.3million Scots shoppers might have taken advantage of the sales yesterday, spending an estimated total of £317million.

Kids splashing Christmas cash was thought to be a key driver of the spending spree.

Shoppers fork out a fortune despite footfall slump as bargain hunters land big deals in festive sales.

THOUSANDS of Scots splashed the cash in the Boxing Day sales, spending an estimated £587,000 a minute in stores and online.

Big bargains on offer across the country may have helped retailers make the most of the festive period, although overall footfall was down on last year.

Barclays Bank claimed the average shopper was expected to fork out £236 yesterday amounting to a £4.6billion spending spree in shops and online around the UK.

Bosses at shopping centres across Scotland were upbeat, with David Pierotti, of Glasgow's Silverburn Shopping Centre, saying: "Retailers have really pulled out all the stops."

It comes as people's shopping habits are changing, with more and more Scots preferring to shop online for deals rather than heading to high streets and malls in person. That, along with wet weather and the squeeze on household finances, had led many shop owners to worry about their yuletide takings.