Britons to spend £4.75 billion on Black Friday

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Oct 18, 2018

With less than five weeks to go until Black Friday, British consumers are preparing to spend £4.75 billion as they bring forward their Christmas shopping to secure bargains.

Nearly half of the total Black Friday spend (47%) will be transacted online, new research from  Salmon, a Wunderman Commerce company, suggested. Women will drive online growth, while men will spend 34% more than women on average.

The searched surveyed 2,000 consumers in the UK, and found that 22% of Britons are planning to do a part of their Christmas shopping during the sales day event on 23 November. Overall, shoppers are prepared to spend 16% of their Christmas budget on Black Friday, with the proportion rising to 28% for 16-24 year olds.

"The Black Friday steam train looks set to pick up even more speed this year, with many consumers even looking to do their Christmas shopping during the November sales period," said James Webster, head of managed services, and peak trading expert, at Salmon.

"Black Friday is now a highlight in many consumers' calendars - but in an increasingly online and competitive retail world, it's not only the deal that gets consumers through the door - it's the experience and service they receive throughout the entire sales process. Brands, retailers and marketplaces have to be as smart and agile as the consumers they're selling to.”

On average, UK consumers will spend £90 on Black Friday deals, but the 25-34 age range are expected to spend £154. However, retailers will struggle to capitalise on this rise unless they prepare their online systems for increased traffic, warned Salmon.

"With record online sales last year and a continued shift to mobile, it's important for eCommerce companies of all types to ensure they're offering a sophisticated, yet easy, customer experience that spans all channels and platforms. It's all well and good for retailers to start their Black Friday deals early, but if they don't have the proper peak operations system in place to cope with the demand, they'll likely be left in the wake of bigger fish like Amazon, who have historically focused heavily on the Black Friday period,” James Webster said.