Black Friday 2014: Amazon kicks off huge shopping event promising average discounts of 40%

Friday set to become the biggest online shopping day in the UK

People crowd the first floor of Macy's department store as they open at midnight (0500 GMT) on November 23, 2012 in New York to start the stores' 'Black Friday' shopping weekend. (STAN HONDA | AFP | Getty Images)

Amazon is leading the pack ahead of Black Friday, the American shopping extravaganza making its way to the UK, with a series of 10-minute deals promising average discounts of 40 per cent

Starting today running until Sunday, Amazon is putting out 3,000 “lighting deals”- a limited amount of a product being discounted for a short time- every 10 minutes and lasting until stocks run out.

The climactic day will still be Friday, and this year, more than ever, Britain will be swamped with discounts online and in the High Street. Visa Europe is forecasting that £360,000 will be spent every minute, or £6000 per second on its cards on Friday.

John Lewis is opening its doors at 8am on Friday- earlier than usual - and is set to slash prices across electrical products including tablets, laptops, televisions, small and large electrical appliances.

Wal-mart owned Asda is staying mum about its Black Friday discounts until Thursday evening. Stores will open at 8am- same as usual- until stocks lasts on Friday.

For beauty junkies, Superdrug is kicking off its Black Friday price cuts on Wednesday. Top deals include Braun Series 340 Wet and Dry Shaver (65% off) and Babyliss Vintage Glam Straighteners (66% off).

Electronics retailer Maplin is offering deals online and across all of its 217 in the UK on Friday. Deals include an HD Kaiser Baas X80 camera for £99.99 ( you save £40).

Apple, meanwhile is offering a Black Friday discount on its iTunes online gift cards, as long as you spend £25 on them.

Halfords will have a range of deals in store, such as a 200-piece socket set at £140, less than half its original price of £300. Then there are special openings.

GAME stores will open from 11:59pm on Thursday night ahead of Black Friday. Early deals available at game.co.uk/blackfriday.

The discount retailer B&M is opening stores late on Black Friday, when it will offer 10 per cent off everything from 5pm till 10pm.

Do check out discount and voucher sites.

At Nectar e-shops, for instance, you can get quadruple Nectar points when you buy Body Shop or Harvey's Furniture products on Black Friday or the week after.

It’s also offering triple points at a number of stores, such as Accessorize, Crabtree & Evelyn, Matalan and Monsoon.

Click here for Amazon Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals