Initial figures suggest Black Friday shoppers may be down on last year, but experts say it is too early to tell what the run-up to Christmas will be like for retailers
The number of bargain hunters hitting the shops on Black Friday was down on last year – but stores could still get a big boost, experts say.
Data which tracks footfall – the volume of people out and about – revealed a 3.3% year-on-year drop on Friday. The figure measured numbers in various shopping destinations up to 5pm. “The cost-of-living squeeze appears to be weighing on overall activity,” said number crunchers MRI Software, which produced the analysis.
But it came as experts forecast online retailers could be in for a near £3.4billion surge on Cyber Monday, with some retailers expected to hold off deals until after the weekend.
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Looking in more detail, high streets number Black Friday shoppers numbers was down 4.3% year-on-year, a similar number to shopping centres, but out-of-town retail parks recorded a slight rise. “However, this is only the beginning of what could be a bumper weekend for retail as Black Friday merges with the final payday for many consumers,” MRI added.
Its data also showed shoppers were 11% higher than the previous Friday. “The week on week trends are encouraging and reinforce Black Friday as the catalyst for the festive shopping period,” said MRI.
However, store bosses will be nervously watching the figures, as the Black Friday discounting event has become important in the so-called ‘golden quarter’ which peaks at Christmas and is when many retailers make a big chunk of their profits for the year. There have been concerns that the Budget – and the late timing of it this year – has impacted to a recent fall in retail sales.
Experts are waiting to discover if, now the Budget is out of the way, consumers will splash the cash or not. Richard Hyman, a retail analyst, said: “People’s household budgets are under pressure and discretionary spending is an area that is bound to be hit.
“The fact that the Budget was so close to Black Friday means that consumers would have been bombarded by the various ideas that were floated ahead of the Budget. Whether that was income tax or mansion tax – people did not expect that they would have more money to spend after the Budget.”
Discount website VoucherCodes.co.uk shoppers will spend £3.38billion on Cyber Monday – just topping Black Friday – and up 1.7% on last year’s event. Accountants PwC UK predicts spending over the Black Friday period as a whole will be up 1.5% this year, to £6.4billion.
Some retailers are extending their online deals through to what has been dubbed “Cyber Monday”. Beauty chain Superdrug says it will have Cyber Monday discounts of up to 73%, from electrical beauty to fragrances. Customers who spend £100 online will receive £10 worth of reward points, it added.
Research by Barclays found one in four people have been saving money to spend during Black Friday and the run-up to Christmas. But its poll also discovered that 44% say they do not look forward to the seasonal sales as much as they used to. What is more, seven in 10 are doubtful about the real value of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, and a similar proportion (65%) believe such sales events encourage unnecessary spending.
