Retailers to be hit with Black Friday blues

Research suggests shoppers are losing interest in Black Friday promotions.

The spending spree that traditionally marks Black Friday is a critical sales day for many retailers. However recent figures from Retail Economics and Retail Week suggest only 19 per cent of shoppers plan on taking advantage of promotions this year.

While 46 per cent of retailers reported they are expecting higher demand this Friday, a meagre 11 per cent of consumers said they intend on spending more on goods this year, research from Retail Economics suggests. Just under a quarter of shoppers reported a sense of disillusionment with Black Friday promotions, while 42 per cent felt deals were worsening year-on-year.

While younger consumers expressed the highest interest in exploiting the annual promos, levels of interest were down markedly on the previous year. Of the consumers who said they intended to shop on Black Friday, 62 per cent expected to spend less and 27 per cent said they would spend the same amount.

Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics, said: “Acceleration on last year’s trends is expected with a third of consumers saying that they would do more of their Black Friday shopping online. This shift in spending is anticipated by retailers, three quarters of who thought online would be more popular this year.”

However, Mr Lim also identified the potential benefits of a customer base that are gravitating away from singular shopping sprees, towards more balanced expenditure.

“Fading demand for Black Friday is not necessarily a bad thing for retailers who would rather see incremental spend spread across the whole of the Christmas season than discounted sales pulled forward at the expense of future demand.

“It also eases pressure on capacity constraints for retailers who have previously struggled with crowded stores, failing websites and poor customer experiences”, he added.