Posted by: TeletrackLIVE

Four Black Friday statistics from the UK!

The Black Friday tradition started in the USA, a mad day of sales the day after Thanksgiving kicking off the run-up to Christmas. However, in the last decade retailers in the UK have been capitalising on the opportunity to drive huge sales over the weekend with some even running "Black November" deals all month!

We've collated 4 stats from last year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday (the online version of the event traditionally held on the Monday after Black Friday) to give you an indication of the scale of the sales event of the year!

via GIPHY

1. We pretend every year we're "over" it (spoiler: we aren't).

According to a study by PWC 52% of surveyed consumers claimed to be interested in looking for bargains on Black Friday (Compared to 88% in South Africa and 77% in Germany) with those uninterested claiming that the deals "aren't exciting enough" (29%) and even some cynicism in thinking the deals aren't genuine (20%).

That being said, those who are interested in the event intend to spend more than ever! The average amount a UK consumer will spend on BF/CM is up almost 10% to £224 per person, with 25-34 year old men (up £36) seeing the biggest gains in spending.

2. Men buy for themselves, women buy for others.

According to the study, men tend to be more interested in the sales when they're buying for themselves! 77% of men surveyed indicated they were buying for themselves compared to just 62% of women admitting to treating themselves. This could be partly down to shopping intent, with only 33% of men planning to buy Christmas presents rather than indulging in an impulse purchase, compared to 47% of purchases made by women.

3. We're doing most of our BF/CM shopping online

Given the fact that the thought of Black Friday conjures images of people using shopping trollies as weapons and fighting over the last TV on the pallet, it's perhaps no wonder that most of us are doing our Black Friday shopping online. In 2018 77% of transactions took place online in the UK which is comparable to other European countries (DE 75%, NL 66%, FR 65%, IE 63%). Historically this has presented retailers with eCommerce issues with sites struggling to handle the influx of visitors, thankfully this is something most large retailers have been able to manage with DDoS protection and virtual queueing systems to hold people at the doors like the Black Fridays of old.

4. We now spend more in November than we do in December

According to a survey by the ONS in 2017 for the first time ever retail sales growth was bigger in November (12%) than December (11%) compared with 2012 when growth in November (8%) was dwarfed by growth in December (17%).

This has naturally caused a slowdown of spending in December which has prompted some retailers to start their "boxing day sales" as early as the 21st December! Some studies and thinktank groups have suggested we could see a shift to November being the month to buy and December being the month to do. It is no secret that huge sums of money are spent on experiences in December, from Christmas funfairs to Ice Bars, skating rinks and grottos - many retailers are wising up to the idea that to generate footfall in December it's no longer good enough to rely on unorganised present shoppers.

So that is our list of stats from last year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The next few days will tell us how this year has gone, but if prior years offer any correlation, we expect to see further marginal growth in spending with more shift to online! Are you buying Christmas presents today or something for yourself? Tweet us at @Teletrack_LIVE

TeletrackLIVE is a retail execution platform used by brands and agencies to manage field-based workforce - it is currently in use with tactical merchandising, strategic merchandising, field sales, brand ambassador programs and more! To find out how we increase ROI on retail execution activity request a demo today!