Black Friday Sales to open floodgates on spending

Consumer excitement has risen to such an extent that Asda said it will extend its Black Friday event by a day and other retailers are offering week-long deals. Marks & Spencer expects to despatch more than 1.7 million products ordered on M&S.com next week.

The in-store excitement is forecast to be followed by an online rush as shoppers continue their spree on Sofa Sunday (November 30), Cyber Monday (December 1) and Manic Monday (December 8). Experian and IMRG believe Manic Monday will surpass Cyber Monday and be the busiest online shopping day before Christmas.

Black Friday, which was first introduced to the UK by etail giant Amazon, is expected to draw record numbers of shoppers. Nearly half of UK shoppers (47%) are expected to make a
grab for cut-price bargains, according to Verdict.

Retail Week and Microsoft research found that 31% of UK shoppers will take advantage of the deals across the high street and online to buy Christmas presents.

Kick-starting Christmas

Retailers hope that Black Friday will bring in extra sales and kick-start the critical Christmas shopping season. However, Verdict analyst Kate Ormrod warned that this year shoppers are more confident of the discounts on Black Friday “resulting in spend being brought forward”.

Tesco expects Black Friday to topple Boxing Day in terms of sales, while Game will open 316 of its stores from midnight tonight until 3am. The stores will then reopen tomorrow morning and will stay open until midnight.

Asda is offering quad bikes at £3,500, down from £6,500, while rival Sainsbury’s is offering deals such as a half-price 40 inch LED TV at £149.99 and a Dyson 24 Animal Vacuum reduced from £319.99 to £159.99.

A wide range of other retailers including Halfords, Debenhams and Holland & Barrett are also offering deals.

US department store Macy’s is attempting to pull in customers from across the pond by offering British shoppers a 20% discount online.