Black Friday Spending Much Needed Boost For Retailers

27th November 2017.

British online retailers won the battle for sales on Black Friday with overall spending up on a year ago despite a drop in the number of shoppers visiting stores.

While consumers were initially cautious with their spending at the start of the annual spending spree, momentum was built throughout the day. Barclaycard. which processes nearly half of all debit and credit card transactions in the UK, estimated that Black Friday’s overall spending finished on a 8 per cent rise on 2016.

John Lewis described the American-inspired discount event as “one of its most successful days”. The department store chain said it had its busiest ever single hour of online trading.

Online sales appear stronger this year, with more shoppers choosing their laptop over the high street. This continues a long-term change in habits.

Three years ago police and ambulances were called to major supermarkets as near-riots broke out among shoppers desperate to grab bargains. But this year the supermarkets either opted out of the event or had only limited deals available.

“It was not Black Friday but mid grey week,” bemoaned Diane Wehrle of shopper traffic measuring firm Springboard. “With the budget this week and concerns about the economy, people are feeling fairly cautious about spending money on stuff they possibly don’t really need.”

Shoppers were predicted to spend more than £2.5bn on Black Friday itself. The number of shoppers online between midnight and 7am was 24% lower than last year, according to the e-commerce trends service PCA Predict.

Consumer credit and household spending has taken a recent dive, and retailers have seen the impact. Many have hoped this discount frenzy would encourage consumers to loosen their purse strings.

The high-street clothing retailer Next, which traditionally refuses to offer pre-Christmas discounts, entered the Black Friday fray for the first time to boost flagging sales.

The analyst Tony Shiret said Next’s offer of 70% off all Black Friday lines showed the retailer was struggling to clear stock in its usual end-of-season sales.

A Director of The Credit Protection Association Plc said “The rise of Black Friday is a further testament to the fact that British consumers are being more cautious with their money and need heavy incentives in the form of discounts to be persuaded to part with their cash. These sales come at the cost of much tighter margins and there are unlikely to improve conditions for UK retailers. Suppliers will need to be cautious about unwittingly providing the free credit that funds these sales. CPA are here to make sure you get paid on time”

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