Predictions that discount weary consumers would engage less with last week’s Black Friday (November 29) have not rung true, according to various reports. The discount event benefited from proximity to paydays. Barclaycard (which processes around a third of UK transactions) described Black Friday as “outstanding” compared with 2018, and a “fantastic opportunity for retailers and consumers.”
According to Barclaycard, transaction value was up 16.5% compared with last year, with the volume of transactions up 7.2%. Footfall to bricks and mortar shops was up 3.3% overall on last year, according to retail analyst Springboard. Shopping centres enjoyed more visits, with footfall up 6.5%. However Springboard anticipates a lull in shopper numbers in early December, and a last minute rush, with December 21 predicted to be the busiest day for shops.
According to Love the Sales (the discount tracking website, whose sectors include Kitchen Accessories), more retailers than ever before promoted Black Friday deals. Stuart McClure, cmo and co-founder of Love the Sales described this year as “the biggest Black Friday ever.”
He reported: “It’s been an exceptional Black Friday for UK and US retailers. Our data across six 6 million products showed that a lot of retailers were holding back with deals throughout the month of November.” Saving special deals to coincide with payday was “a successful strategy as data proves this to be the biggest Black Friday ever,” Stuart concluded.
Meanwhile, Amazon reported that Cyber Monday 2019 (December 2) was its biggestshopping day of all time, based on the number of items sold worldwide.
Top: Fenwick ran its first online Black Friday deals over four days having recently launched its ecommerce platform.
