Retailers on tenterhooks as Black Friday forecast for subdued sales

Footfall during the annual Sales event is predicted to be down 4.5% year-on-year exacerbated by a 5.5% decline in high street footfall, according to Springboard.

This subdued demand is compounded by sluggish online sales growth, with IMRG forecasting that will rise just 2 to 3% year-on-year over the period from November 25 to December 2 “and may potentially even be completely flat.”

Research from KPMG revealed that 42% of UK shoppers have no plans to spend at all this Black Friday, while just 17% said they planned to spend more year-on-year, and 20% saying the planned to spend the same amount as they did in 2018 during the annual shopping event.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing also found that just 16% of shoppers believe that the deals available during Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the most competitive, with 33% believing that the deals on offer are ‘misleading’.

Sales across London’s West End are forecast to be up 9% year-on-year over the course of Black Friday and the subsequent weekend of trading, according to the New West End Company.

Retailers including Asos, Amazon, Shop Direct, AO.com, Carphone Warehouse, Sainsbury’s-Argos and Topshop are participating in this year’s Black Friday event. However, businesses such as Monki, Patagonia and AllBirds have shunned the annual retail event.