Majority purchases to be made online and spread through the week

It is expected that British shoppers will spend close to £10.1bn in the week of Black Friday. The estimate shows the spending to be nearly 4% higher than last year as more retailers take part in the US inspired promotional day. Nevertheless, the bargain fever as seen in previous years is unlikely to materialize since majority shopping will be online and the discounts are likely to be less exciting on the day.

Companies find it difficult to deliver big price cuts due to strong inflation resulting from the fall in the value of pound since Brexit vote. There are also rising business rates and other costs. The rising costs mean that retailers will be unable to offer the discounts as compared to 2016; this could lead to wavering of the demand as consumers feel less inclined to make bargain purchases on an impulse.

Electrical products remain the focus of Black Friday discounts, but the same could be affected by inflation in addition to the decline in the demand of fashion and homewares. The fashion industry has had a tough time and the stores could try and use Black Friday as a way to reduce the stock of winter gear.

Asda continues to play down Black Friday with no special activities or deals planned on the day since the tussle in the store three years ago. Tesco is ramping activity with more than 700 stores taking part and 187 stores opening at 1am for bargain hunters. Amazon had helped introduce Black Friday to the UK, it will kick of its sale on Friday but many competitive stores will start offering discounts from Monday. Everyone is trying to avoid a big squeeze on delivery by spreading the demand over a long period.

Goods like TVs have always been popular on Black Friday but the rising inflation could thwart the big discounts. One in five online retailer’s website crashed in 2015, due to heavy traffic, which is why the retailers have heavily invested in improving their computing capabilities and delivery networks. It is expected that £1.74m will be spent every minute online in UK on Black Friday. The estimate says that £700m will be spent before 9am on the same day. It is predicted that more than 80% of Black Friday purchases will be delivered to homes using 20,000 extra vans and cars.