UK Black Friday online spend jumps 36 pct to top 1 bln stg -Experian-IMRG

LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Britons spent 1.1 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) shopping online on "Black Friday" last week, an increase of 36 percent on the previous year, according to an estimate published by retail researcher Experian (Other OTC: EXPGF - news) -IMRG.

The sales promotion day, a concept imported from the United (Shenzhen: 000925.SZ - news) States, was much more of an online event this year compared to last as shoppers opted to use websites rather than visit physical stores.

Last year's Black Friday was marred by long queues and brawls in stores. A typical mixture of strong winds and heavy rain across Britain and memories of last year's scuffles were likely to have encouraged more Britons to shop online this year.

At British stores, Black Friday shopper numbers fell 4 percent year-on-year, according to retail researcher Footfall.

"This ... increase in (online) spend ... clearly shows that this date is likely to continue to be a permanent fixture in the online retail calendar in the UK, despite the lower-than-expected footfall in bricks and mortar stores," said James Miller, senior retail consultant at Experian Marketing Services.

This year retailers, such as electrical goods and mobile phone chain Dixons Carphone (Other OTC: DSITF - news) and household goods retailer Argos, stretched Black Friday discounts over several days to smooth demand.

($1 = 0.6663 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Susan Fenton)