Keep up to date with the latest news, data and sales updates as one of retail’s biggest promotional frenzies, Black Friday, swings into action. Refresh this page to see the latest developments.

5:30pm Workers hit desktop for Black Friday deals

Today’s final update from Salmon shows that desktop has made a comeback with 41% of all transactions from midnight to 3pm made via the device, with the other 59% coming from mobile. This is a jump since the last tally at midday suggesting that office workers have been buying deals on their desktops.

 Meanwhile 73% of traffic is coming via mobile.

Traffic was at its highest between 9am and midday and the consultancy note a 15.4% increase in “social-driven” shopping compared to last year. 

5:05pm Retail websites prove resilient

Very little down time, according to this interesting dashboard shared by Boohoo head of IT operations Steve Roberts.

 

3:18pm Shoppers shun stores on Black Friday

Retail footfall has slumped so far on Black Friday versus last year, according to Springboard data.

Figures for the period up until 1pm today showed overall footfall slid 7%. High streets were down 6.4%, retail parks declined 5.9% and shopping centres were down 9.1%.

Online transactions rose 47% over the same timescale, Loqate data showed.

Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle said: “The drop in footfall is a reflection of the larger discounts offered online. Online is open for business 24 hours a day and is therefore seen as a more convenient option for shoppers.

“The stronger resilience of high streets and retail parks in comparison to shopping centres is likely to be a function of their wider range of hospitality outlets compared with shopping centres.

”This illustrates that many shoppers regard Black Friday as a leisure day which is likely to include a stop for coffee or lunch during their trip.”

3:15pm Consumers started Black Friday much earlier this year

Consumers started their Black Friday shopping much earlier this year but the increase in sales has now begun to tail off. The data below from Loqate shows rapid rises in the early hours of the morning with the biggest rise between 4am and 5am.

Time   2017    2018Change

00:00

22,745

35,334

55%

01:00

13,520

22,904

69%

02:00

9,180

17,404

90%

03:00

7,389

15,770

113%

04:00

7,533

16,644

121%

05:00

8,501

16,682

96%

06:00

16,085

26,736

66%

07:00

29,397

45,170

54%

08:00

44,813

61,014

36%

09:00

55,053

73,382

33%

10:00

56,913

78,560

38%

11:00

55,742

75,324

35%

12:00

55,192

74,988

36%

Total

382,063

559,912

47%

 

 

2:55pm A mobile Black Friday, Salmon says

Ecommerce strategy specalist Salmon suggests this year’s Black Friday has been dominated by mobile.

According to its data, tracking activity between midnight and 12 noon today, 77% of all online traffic and 64% of all online purchases have come through mobile devices.

Two in every three online shoppers during that 12-hour period were female, Salmon says, while 41% of shoppers were between the ages of 25 and 34.

2:44pm Fenwick boss Feather says Black Friday ‘the start of Christmas shopping’

Fenwick boss Robbie Feather believes today has marked “the proper start of Christmas shopping in customers’ minds”.

The department store business hasn’t participated in Black Friday, but Feather tells Retail Week that footfall at its flagship Newcastle store was “noticeably stronger” this lunchtime after a “slow start” to the day.

Feather says consumers are doing a lot of gift shopping, which summed up what he called a “discernable change of feeling” among its customers.

2:27pm It’s not just Oxford Street basking in London’s increased footfall…

This is the queue outside Ugg on Glasshouse Street.

12:57pm We’ve seen some odd deals doing the rounds today, but this might be one too far…

12:50pm Boots swaps sales for selfies

The team at Boots.com have found some time amid the sales frenzy to take part in a team selfie.

The health and beauty retailer’s new boss Seb James shared the snap on Twitter.

12:36pm No deals but plenty of shoppers at Selfridges

Look as though Selfridges is another of Oxford Street’s flagships that is thriving today, despite opting not to participate in the discounting frenzy. 

12:34pm Another unique Black Friday offer…

12:30pm A recap on which retailers are taking part in Black Friday and what they’re doing

Retailer When did it begin?Deals on promotion
Amazon Friday  November 16 Amazon will offer ‘Deals of the Day’ for 10 days across all categories and will have thousands of ‘Lightning Deals’ – available for a short time period. Prime members get early access to deals.
AO.com Friday November 9 Deals across all categories with up to 50% off items.
Argos Friday November 16 Deals will span technology, TVs, video games, health and beauty, gadgets and more. Offers include its “lowest prices ever on selected electricals” and ‘buy one get one half price’ on jewellery.
Asda Thursday November 15 Asda’s two week Green is the new Black promotion offers deals across general merchandise
Asos Friday  November 23 Asos is offering 20% off everything over Black Friday Weekend. The offer runs until Tuesday 27 November 8am
Boohoo Friday November 23 Boohoo is offering up to 50% off everything with the added incentive of free next-day delivery
Boots Friday November 23 Up to 25% off selected lines and triple advantage points
Currys PC World Friday November 9 The electricals retailer launched its ‘Why Wait?’ promotion across all categories with a price guarantee so if prices are reduced on Black Friday, the customer is refunded the difference.
Debenhams Monday November 19 Some items will be up to half price in the department store’s 12-day Black Friday Spectacular
Holland & Barrett Wednesday November 14 Holland & Barrett kicked off its Black Ticket Sale last week and it will run to November 27, with better than half price offers. Over Black Friday weekend shoppers get money off when they hit various spending thresholds
House of Fraser Wednesday November 21 Up to 60% off everything, running until Monday 26 November.
John Lewis Monday November 19 Deals across technology, toys, fashion and beauty including 20% off all own-brand toys.
Missguided Friday November 23 Up to 50% off everything. 
Morrisons Monday November 19 Morrisons is running Black Five Days, running up to the big day, with deals across groceries and alcohol
Next   70% off Next own brand products in the Black Friday promotion both online and in stores, and 50% of selected branded goods online.
Pretty Little Thing Monday  November 19 The retailer is running a Black Friday warm-up event with 25% off everything today. On top of this, shoppers get a ‘unicorn ticket’ offering additional discounts whenever they place an order.
River Island   20% off everything when you spend £75 or more
Topshop Friday November 23 Up to 50% off everything and free worldwide delivery
Very.co.uk Friday 9 November Deals will run until November 27 across categories including tech, home, fashion and gifts.

12:17pm Shoppers flock to Debenhams

Shoppers seem to be pouncing on the 50% off deals being offered at Debenhams.

On Oxford Street, customers are queuing just to get onto the escalators…

12.11pm Next is also getting in on the action

Next is offering up to 70% off some of its own label ranges and up to 50% off selected branded lines today.

11:57am …but John Lewis is thriving

But it’s a different story at John Lewis & Partners, whose Black Friday event and ‘never knowingly undersold’ proposition is driving shoppers into stores.

In its Oxford Street store, beauty and electricals are among the busiest departments, Grace Bowden says.

11:54am Sluggish start for M&S…

Marks & Spencer’s Oxford Street store looks to be suffering from a footfall drought this morning, as Grace Bowden discovers.

The retailer is not participating in specific Black Friday deals, although it is running a number of multi-buy offers in certain categories, including gifting.

11:26am Topshop the top shop this year?

Sir Philip Green’s flagship Topshop store on Oxford Street is one of the busiest on the shopping thoroughfare so far this morning, our reporter Grace Bowden suggests.

11:23am Black Friday reaches a different kind of bricks and mortar

A developer of later living accommodation is offering vouchers worth almost £20,000 off the cost of their properties. Surely the most bizarre Black Friday offer so far?

11:12 am Fewer Black Friday price drops in some categories

There are fewer price Black Friday price drops this year than last in categories such as laptops, according to GfK Online Pricing Intelligence.

GfK UK head of retail Michael McLaughlin said: “There are strong and genuine deals to be had this Black Friday, but they are amongst a bewildering array of offers and a lot of noise in the market.

“Our analysis of laptops, TVs and washing machines shows that there are less price drops this Black Friday than in 2017, and fewer items in these categories are at their lowest price today so far this year.

“Shoppers are embracing Black Friday and we know they are becoming increasingly savvy, so they will be researching major purchases like these to get the best deals before they’re gone.”

11:09am Cos woos shoppers despite a lack of deals

Interesting insight from ourroving reporter Grace Bowden on Oxford Street, who suggests H&M’s busiest store this morning is actually the fascia offering no deals.

11:05am Sainsbury’s Argos boss Rogers: Black Friday demand ‘spreading itself out’

Sainsbury’s Argos boss John Rogers says he expects Black Friday demand to “spread itself out” over a longer period this year.

Retailers are expecting a Black Friday boom in sales, but Rogers believes Argos will continue to reap the rewards next week, with payday coming after this weekend.

Speaking to Retail Week from its new warehouse in Croydon, Rogers says: “I actually think it will spread spend out a bit longer because obviously payday for most people is next week. I think we will see some good uplift year-on-year on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week. So it will spread itself out a little more, which isn’t a bad thing.”

Discussing Argos’ performance so far this morning, Rogers added: “It’s obviously early days yet, but it looks like a similar pattern to last year, maybe a bit better. We’ll see how we trade through the next couple of days. We expect a big step up tomorrow and over Cyber Monday.”

10:49am Looking pretty quiet at Westfield Stratford City

10:44am Black Friday delivers blizzard of orders for Currys PC World

Currys PC World has drawn three orders per second as shoppers snap up Black Friday deals.

The retailer, owned by Dixons Carphone, launched its Black Friday event last night. For the first time mobile surpassed desktop - 61% of orders have been made on mobile, compared to 46% last year.

Sister business Carphone Warehouse has received 14 orders per minute since yesterday evening at 9pm.

10:42am Mobile dominates and bargain hunters stay up late

According to consultancy Salmon’s analytics hub, 85% of traffic came from mobile between midnight and 9am and 76% of transactions were made on mobile.

Bargain hunters stayed up late to grab deals with midnight to 1am.

Salmon research revealed UK consumers would spend £90 on average this Black Friday, with the 25-35 age range splashing more cash than anyone else (£154).

10:32am Retailers battle with other industries for Black Friday spend

Retailers are fighting it out with other consumer industries to win Black Friday purse share as the promotional extravaganza is adopted widely.

Travel search engine Skyscanner reported that consumer interest in travel bargains has generated a 43% increase in visitors to its UK site compared to the same time last week.

10:23am Apple tops John Lewis Black Friday searches

The most searched for Black Friday products so far on the John Lewis website are Apple Airpods and Applewatch series 3, the retailer reported.

Operations director Dino Rocos said: “Our Black Friday event began on Monday when we launched hundreds of offers, and we have been price matching the thousands of offers from our high street competitors.

“Black Friday itself has still got off to a busy start with our customers being quick to take advantage of new offers launched today.”

10:13am Black Friday transaction values rise

The average Black Friday purchase value has risen to £90 today, according to data from cashback site TopCashBack.

So far there have been more than 307,000 transactions. Black Friday Week is up 20% so far year on year. 16% more people are shopping, and spending 24% more.

8:53 Warning over misleading Black Friday deals

The Advertising Standards Authority has urged consumers to beware of misleading Black Friday deals.

The regulator’s chief executive Guy Parker, said that the pace of change online is “fuelling people’s concerns about whether everything they see and read is true”, the BBC reported.

He said: “It becomes more difficult to establish whether the price you’re being offered a product at is indeed a good price.” 

8:49am Black Friday sales in London’s West End to hit £150m

Retailers in central London are expected to ring up revenues of £150m over the Black Friday weekend, according to the New West End Company.

Because the promotion falls before many people’s payday, retailers will have “pulled out all the stops” to win spend, the organisation said.

8:12am Online transactions soar 78% before 7am

Online transactions were up 78% before 7am this morning, significantly outpacing the start of Black Friday last year.

While some began shopping before 6am, most shoppers spent between 6am and 7am, according to geolocation firm Loqate. It also found that smartphone activity accounted for more than half of online shopping (56%), pointing to a younger demographic shopping deals. 

7:50am Sales over the week expected to hit £10.4bn

While sales are expected to hit £2.4bn today, according to the Centre for Retail Research and Voucher Codes, Global Data predicts that consumers will spent £10.4bn over the week as a whole, from Monday 19 November to Cyber Monday on Monday 26 November.

This is a 3.1% rise on last year despite much of the event falling before pay day.

7:30am Shoppers set to spend £2.4bn today

Shoppers are expected to spend a record £2.4bn this Black Friday with high streets thought to benefit most as bricks and mortar stores are estimated to attract £1.4bn sales. Online sales are expected to be around the £1bn mark.The figures from Voucher Codes and the Centre for Retail Research showed that shoppers were most keen to sniff out clothing and electrical deals with 24% looking for fashion deals and 23% looking for electricals deals.

7:29am GCHQ warns on Black Friday cyber crime

GCHQ has warned that Black Friday sales are “prime pickings” for cyber-crime. 

The National Cyber Security Centre, part of the GCHQ intelligence service, has warned consumers of the heightened risk of online crime as shoppers prepare to spend over £2bn in a single day. It is the first time that GCHQ has issued such a warning.

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