Irish people are set to spend €98m online this weekend, as the Black Friday sales kick off.

Visa Europe says the expenditure between today and Cyber Monday will make this the biggest weekend for Irish online shopping in history.

This represents an 18% increase on the €83m spent by Irish consumers last year. Black Friday will start the spike in spending - with €31m expected to be spent online, before peaking on Cyber Monday when €33m in purchases will be made.

Visa says it bases its predictions on spending data and previous years' Christmas spending trends.

While Retail Ireland, the IBEC group that represents the sector, says retailers are preparing for the busiest Black Friday weekend since the emergence of the phenomenon.

The initiative originated in the United States to mark the start of the Christmas shopping season after Thanksgiving.

Retail Ireland expects overall sales this Christmas to increase by 3.5% on last year, the highest in seven years.

Retail Ireland director, Thomas Burke, said: "This weekend marks the start of the real Christmas shopping period and Black Friday is an increasingly important promotional window for retailers".

"Some businesses will see an increase in sales this weekend of 30% with reduction of over 25% available in some outlets".

"The early spending spree does however bring forward purchasing decisions by consumers, resulting in potentially less activity closer to Christmas", he added.

And Dublin city centre is gearing up for one of the busiest trading days of the year.

DublinTown says the city can expect to see a total city footfall of 600,000 - making it the 3rd busiest day in the retail calendar.

Richard Guiney, CEO of DublinTown, said: "By the time the Christmas lights come down at the beginning of January more than 25 million pedestrian movements will have passed through the city streets as Dublin City continues to regain market share".

"Nowhere can match the city centre as a destination for Black Friday shopping; while approaches to out of town centres are clogged with traffic, the city has the country’s best public transport links as well as 10,000 car parking spaces".

Brian Cleary is the CEO of Tipperary Chamber of Commerce - he told Newstalk Breakfast the day is encouraging people to spend.

While Lynn Drumgoole, the Head of communications with Retail Excellence Ireland, said while it is a good day for consumers it puts pressure on smaller retailers.

These US shoppers at a Best Buy in Colorado Springs were the first in.

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