British shoppers spent 3.63 billion pounds ($4.6 billion) online over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday (Nov. 29-Dec. 2) period, a 5.2% increase year-on-year, according to data from Adobe Analytics published on Tuesday.

UK retailers were looking to the discount weekend to kick start trading in the run up to Christmas after official data showed sales fell by much more than expected in October.

Industry data for November, but excluding Black Friday, was also lacklustre, suggesting shoppers under pressure from rising energy bills were holding out for better deals.

The Adobe data showed UK consumers spent 1.12 billion pounds online, up 7.2%, on Black Friday and 926 million pounds online, up 5.1%, on Cyber Monday.

Separate data from Barclays, also published on Tuesday, showed Black Friday retail transactions from both online and physical trading increased 9.5% in comparison to Black Friday 2023.

U.S. shoppers made roughly $10.8 billion in purchases online on Black Friday, Adobe data published on Saturday showed. ($1 = 0.7890 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)