Today in Retail: Black Friday throws up more surprises

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Black Friday has proven to be an unpredictable beast since it landed on these shores from across the Atlantic.

And this year appears to have confounded some commentators with evidence today that shoppers spent more time in physical stores than expected, while online sales fell short of forecasts.

Data from analysts Springboard show footfall across high streets, retail parks and shopping centres on the day edged up 2% year-on-year. A 5% fall had been predicted.

Online sales meanwhile only rose 6.7% on Black Friday itself, when a jump of 25% had been forecast.

Arguably, it showed shoppers have become more wary of the headline-grabbing deals around Black Friday – thanks to warnings from the likes of Which? – and are aware more discounting will come pre-Christmas.

Away from the madness of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, JD Sports has been on its own shopping trip, finally snapping up Go Outdoors.

In other mergers and acquisitions news, homeware retailer Dunelm has acquired Kiddicare owner WorldStores as it looks to ramp up its online capabilities.

Sports Direct’s woes continue after it emerged that its auditor, Grant Thornton, is being investigated over the retailer’s deal with a delivery company owned by Mike Ashley’s brother.

And House of Fraser is on the hunt for a new chief executive as Nigel Oddy is stepping down next year.