BARGAIN hunters flocked to high streets and shopping malls across Scotland to cash in on the Boxing Day bonanza as retailers slashed prices and kick started their winter sales.

Shoppers were queueing outside the Braehead shopping centre in Glasgow from the early hours yesterday in a bid to grab an early deal as stores opened before dawn.

Gary Turnbull, general manager of intu Braehead, said: "Quite a few of the shoppers would have been gold medal contenders at this summer's Commonwealth Games when you saw the speed of them when they were dashing up the mall to bag the best of the bargains when we opened our doors at 6am.

"People were driving into our car parks and queuing up as early as 4.30am waiting for the first stores - Next, Marks and Spencer, JD Sports and Sports Direct - to open at 6am.

"At one point the queue stretched from one end of the centre to the other between the doors of Next and Marks and Spencer.

"We brought in extra staff to direct traffic in the free car parks, which quickly filled up and as the day went on, the centre became even busier."

Department store John Lewis lunched its online clearance sale at 5pm on Christmas Eve, and saw a 16 per cent increase in orders during the first hour compared to the same time last year.

Customers continued shopping into Christmas Day with the website seeing orders up 19 per cent year-on-year, making this John Lewis's biggest ever Christmas Day for orders.

Nearly three quarters of traffic onto the John Lewis website on Christmas Day was coming from mobile and tablet devices. Similar to last year, the retailer found that traffic dipped between 1pm and 4pm on Christmas Day as people sat down to enjoy Christmas dinner with sales then peaking between 9-10pm as customers logged on while the much anticipated Downton Abbey Christmas Special aired on ITV.

Mark Lewis, online director, John Lewis said: "We know that customers quickly switch from Christmas shopping to bargain hunting and we're thrilled to see a good start to this year's Clearance online. We expect customers to continue to log on throughout today to take advantage of the thousands of offers we have available and then from tomorrow, browse in-store as our shops across the country reopen their doors."

Lego Minifigures proved particularly popular with more than 10 being sold every minute during the first hour of the John Lewis Clearance. Molton Brown and Crabtree & Evelyn beauty sets also sold well, along with luxury pillows, pillowcases and towels. Super-organised shoppers stocked up on Christmas cards and gift wrap ready for next year, whilst others made the most of the technology offers and bought TVs, washing machines and laptops in the first hour.

Meanwhile, more than 60,000 customers rushed through the doors of the Glasgow Fort shopping mall at 6am, with a further 130,000 people expected to descend on its shops today and tomorrow.

Phil Goodman, Centre Manager at Glasgow Fort, said: "This has been one of our busiest shopping seasons ever and the Boxing Day sales were certainly no exception. People have been laden with bags throughout the day, taking advantage of some of the great offers our retailers are promoting.

"Our restaurants have also been very busy with people looking to fuel up to continue their shopping."

The Fort Kinnaird shopping centre in Edinburgh also welcomed 60,000 customers yesterday morning.

Liam Smith, centre manager, said: "The Boxing Day sales have once again proven a massive success with Edinburgh shoppers who have flocked in their tens of thousands to take advantage of bargains. Many also seem to be skipping a second day of turkey with our new restaurants reporting a high number of visitors."

In Dundee, around 50,000 bargain hunters were queueing up to grab a bargain at stores including Next and Debenhams. Another 130,000 are expected to visit the centre today and tomorrow.