The big winners of the Black Friday shopping splurge? Department stores like John Lewis could see sales QUADRUPLE

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Love it or hate it, Black Friday has become a major shopping event in Britain after being imported from the US by online retailer Amazon five years ago.

Now, data from building society Nationwide outlines the big winners of the event are department stores, which saw sales boom 220 per cent on Black Friday last year.

Major stores like Debenhams, House of Fraser, John Lewis and Selfridges saw £5.3million spent on Black Friday in 2014 by Nationwide credit and debit card customers compared to £1.7million on the Friday the week before.

John Lewis: The department store saw a bumper week when Black Friday happened last year

With Black Friday growing in prominence this year, it is likely department stores will see sales quadruple tomorrow compared to last Friday.

Although the figures only show spend of customers at Britain's biggest building society, this trend is likely to be similar at other banks and building societies.

Nationwide customers spent £142million on Black Friday last year compared to £94.4million the Friday one week before – an increase of 50 per cent.

There was an 114 per cent rise on clothing spend, from £4.9million to £10.4million and a 74 per cent boom in DIY/household purchases, from £6.3million to £10.9million, the Nationwide figures show.

Supermarkets saw sales up 24 per cent, from £18.2million to £22.6million.

All of the department stores mentioned above are likely to get involved with Black Friday again tomorrow.

Last year, John Lewis broke its all-time sales record in Black Friday week with the retailer’s internet traffic up by more than 300 per cent in the early hours of Friday 28 November 2014.

Department stores: According to Black Friday spend data, department stores see bumper sales

A OnePoll survey for Nationwide showed one in three people shopped in stores or online on Black Friday last year.

However, more than half of this figure made impulse purchases resulting in one in eight returning the goods they bought, suggesting they didn’t want or need the items.

John Crossley, Nationwide’s head of credit cards, said: ‘Black Friday takes place on the last payday before Christmas, which means it is an ideal time to stock up on presents at a reduced price.

‘But our research shows half of shoppers impulse bought on the day to secure a bargain, but one in eight took the items back.’

The research comes as some retailers, such as Asda, Made.com and Oddbins choose not to partake in Black Friday.

Asda did not want repeat scenes of last year where desperate shoppers battled each other for goods such as televisions.

TV drama: Asda will not be having a Black Friday event this year - to avoid scenes like those above

Shoppers are forecast to spend £1.9billion tomorrow with online retailers turning the heat on high streets.

The sum will include £721million spent online, an increase of 17 per cent on the 'Black Friday' frenzy of last year, according to card payments firm Visa Europe. The £1.2billion spent in face-to-face transactions will represent a four per cent rise on last year.

However, both increases suggest that enthusiasm for Black Friday, an import from the US, is levelling off.

Last year online sales increased 44 per cent on the year before and face-to-face spending increased by about 15 per cent.