Harris KhanNearly two fifths of UK shoppers plan to participate in the Black Friday promotional period this year, with it being an important occasion to purchase Christmas gifts for consumers who have been hardest hit by the economic impacts of COVID-19, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Emily Salter, Retail Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Black Friday will be most popular among younger shoppers, with 60.3% of 16-34 year olds intending to buy items on a Black Friday promotion this year*, persuaded by the extended discounting period among many retailers (Amazon offered deals throughout November and Dixons Carphone started discounting on the 10th November) and the potential for significant discounts. Though this will help retailers to clear stock, especially seasonal clothing & footwear items, it will be detrimental to their profitability.”
Black Friday has become an increasingly online event, and will be even more so this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, attracting younger more digital-savvy shoppers. This may lead to backlogs of orders and extended delivery times as retailers must balance increased online demand with social distancing and courier capacity, with more agile digital retailers such as Amazon and ASOS more likely to be able to cope with this and meet high consumer expectations of delivery speed.
Salter continues: “Electricals & technology is the category that most consumers intend to purchase, with 53.8% of those planning to participate in the event wanting to buy into the sector*. GlobalData expects clothing & footwear to be less popular this year due to dampened demand for partywear, though branded sportswear could be a saving grace for retailers such as ASOS and Next, as well as sports brands themselves, including Nike and Adidas. Consumers will be likely to spend on other sectors instead, including homewares as they continue to spend more time at home.”
*Data is from GlobalData’s survey of 2,000 nationally representative UK shoppers carried out in the first two weeks of October 2020.
About GlobalData
4,000 of the world’s largest companies, including over 70% of FTSE 100 and 60% of Fortune 100 companies, make more timely and better business decisions thanks to GlobalData’s unique data, expert analysis and innovative solutions, all in one platform. GlobalData’s mission is to help our clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative across a range of industries, including the healthcare, consumer, retail, financial, technology and professional services sectors.
