Is Black Friday really all it's cracked up to be?
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Business
London - Black Friday - the borrowed holiday from the United States, which falls after Thanksgiving - has become the official kick off to the festive holiday season shopping spree. Consumers across the country are encouraged to start their shopping by savvy retailers who engage in a series of promotional offers and discounting as Christmas Day looms closer.
In 2015 UK consumers are said to have spent 3.3 billion pounds during the four day weekend between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, spending 2 billion pounds in-stores and online in the first 24 hours alone. However, Black Friday 2015 has been highlighted as the online shopping spree of the year, with 1.1 billion pounds being spent on the big day itself.
Online giant Amazon UK reported it sold over 7.4 million items during Black Friday, selling an astonishing 86 products per second, making it the UK's biggest day for online retail to date. Other online retailers, such as John Lewis, River Island and House of Fraser struggled to cope with the sheer number of online orders placed on Black Friday 2015, as 15 retailers witnessed significant downtime of website as they were unable to handle the surge in traffic.
Black Friday 2016 to hit 5 billion pounds - but are the offers really as great as they seems?
This year sees Black Friday falling on Friday November 25, with retail consultancy firm Salmon anticipating consumers spending 5 billion pounds during 'Black Fiveday' week (24 to 28 Nov). Black Friday 2016 is said to be the tipping point for mobile in the UK, with shoppers set to spend 2.55 billion pounds on mobile purchases alone. With such a huge amount of money predicted to be spend, retailers across the country are putting the last touches to their Black Friday 2016 deals, but are these seasonal offers really as great as they seem?
Although many of the deals, discounts and offers on Black Friday are legitimate offers, as retailers take advantage of the day to shift excess stock, not every promotional offer is as great as it seems, especially when it comes to fashion. Data from Love the Sales from 2015, an online aggregating website which works with hundreds of retailers, shows that most retailers have between 10 percent and 15 percent of their stock on sale all year round. When looking at the number of products discounted on, the data shows that Black Friday 2015 was not the peak day for sales, in fact the top sale days took place in July, when 380,000 items were on sale.
Unsurprisingly, fashion was not one of the hit categories last Black Friday, as fashion sales saw the biggest decline during the month of November. Another study from NerdWallet study revealed that a number of department stores increase the amount of their retail prices prior to applying the Black Friday discount to make it seem as if consumers are getting a better deal than they actually are - a tactic discount outlet store TK Maxx has also been accused of in the past.
Another way some retailers try to lure customers in is by offering 'doorbusters' - deeply discounted products which will only be one sale for a limited amount a time - or as Amazon tends to call them lightening deals. However, these products are usually very limited in stock or only available in certain stores at certain times, making it harder for customers to get their hands on them or add them to their shopping cart in time. Although not all retailers use these tactics, it is clear that Black Friday is another marketing ploy borrowed from the US to encourage consumers to spend more.
Consumers more and more aware of the marketing gimmicks behind Black Friday
"It's a very successful retail marketing gimmick, a US retail ploy invented in 1932 to get people to go shopping when their accounts were in the black," said Mike Cullis, CEO of marketing agency Soul, to the Telegraph. "It's been a great way for retailers to get people shopping early — the point being that the longer you can extend the shopping period, the more people will spend overall during that period."
Over the past few years however, more consumers have wised up to these marketing tactics, as research from consultancy firm Future Thinking found that 50 percent of consumers do not think Black Friday deals are particularly good. In addition, one-off discounting tactics like Black Friday may help retailers rapidly shift stock, but are likely to also harm their reputation, as consumers still expect a full-rounded shopping experience, with customer service and a functioning site fully stocked as well as a good deal. However, in the end this is unlikely enough to stop retailers across the UK from participating in the seasonal shopping kick off or consumers from seeing what's on offer.
Photo: Retail Assist