Today's poll: Would you like to see Black Friday continue in the UK?
Doubt has been cast over the future of Black Friday in the UK as retailers questioned its benefit and MPs attacked the drain it placed on police.
Black Friday led to the lowest-ever growth in December online sales despite shoppers cracking the £100 billion barrier across the year for the first time, according to figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.
Shoppers spent £21.6 billion over the Christmas period between November 2 and December 27 - up 13% on last year.
But e-retail during December was up just 5% on 2013 after Black Friday discounting led to huge volumes of sales activity in the final week of November.
An estimated £810 million was spent online during the November 28 Black Friday event, making it the biggest ever day for UK online sales, according to separate figures from Experian and IMRG.
The index showed that the greatest concentration of sales during the Christmas period, 17%, took place during the week of Black Friday.
The latest sales monitor produced yesterday by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG also found that retailers suffered their slowest December growth in six years after Black Friday spending disrupted the "timing and rhythm" of Christmas sales.
The figures come as MPs urged Britain's retailers to never take part in Black Friday again, attacking the drain placed on police resources by the sales bonanza.
Liberal Democrat Greg Mulholland MP criticised large traders for adopting the American custom and sympathised with police officers who said they had "enough to do already".
Conservative former minister Sir Peter Bottomley MP has joined with Mr Mulholland to urge UK retailers to ignore the event in 2015 and beyond.
The day of discounting has become a key date in British retail in the run-up to Christmas, despite the event originating in the United States immediately after Thanksgiving.
Police were called to stores around the country as the Black Friday sales descended into chaos.
John Lewis online director Mark Lewis said: "There is no doubt that this year highlighted a new shape of trade for the Christmas period.
"Black Friday was John Lewis's biggest ever week for sales in our 150-year history."
