Black Friday will soon become the biggest shopping day in the UK, according to a new report. Digital market analyst SimilarWeb says Black Friday was the single biggest day for online shopping in the UK. Last year, consumers in the region spent £810m on the date.
UK consultancy firm Salmon forecasts that this year’s event will be the UK’s first £1bn online shopping day.
The report also highlighted the significance of Cyber Monday – which is due to occur on 30 November this year. Last year, UK consumers spent £720m on the Monday that followed Black Friday.
The day before Black Friday (Thanksgiving in the US), Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day are now the biggest events for online retailers in the UK.
Boxing Day used to be the biggest shopping day for UK consumers, but thanks to the rise in popularity of these US shopping dates it is now joint second-place alongside Thanksgiving.
Joel Zand, Digital Insights Manager at SimilarWeb, said: “In the space of only two years the festive shopping habits of UK consumers has changed beyond recognition. Several companies are adopting promotions and campaigns capitalising on the shift in consumer behaviour and the rise of these new sale days. This is bringing people online earlier and in bigger numbers than we have ever seen.”
However, today UK supermarket Asda said that it would be scaling back its Black Friday offers. Andy Clarke, Chief Executive at Asda, explained: “This year customers have told us loud and clear that they don’t want to be held hostage to a day or two of sales.”
Asda will still run a number of promotions on 27 November, including discounts on skin care products and perfume, as well as half-price toys and reductions on food and drink.
