UK will spend £1bn this Black Friday

UK shoppers will spend £1.07bn on 27 November, according to data from Experian and IMRG.

In 2014 consumers spent £810m on this date, meaning there is a predicted 32% year-on-year (YOY) increase. 

Comparing Black Friday to other big UK shopping dates, the report predicts the following spend levels:

  • Cyber Monday (30 Nov) – £943m up 31% YOY (£720m).
  • Manic Monday (7 Dec) – £733m up 10% YOY (£666m).
  • Christmas Day (25 Dec) – £728m up 11% YOY (£658m).
  • Boxing Day (26 Dec) – £856m up 22% YOY (£699m).
  • New Year’s Day (1 Jan) – £638m up 33% YOY (£478m).

Ecommerce sales could double compared to last year

Black Friday 2015 could see double the amount of online sales compared with 2014, according to a forecast by PCA Predict. 

The report also predicts that the proportion of mobile phone transactions could increase by 12%, resulting in almost one in three online shoppers buying via a mobile phone

UK retailers to reap two thirds of Europe-wide Black Friday sales

UK shoppers are predicted to spend £966m this Black Friday, vs. £1.53bn across the whole of Europe, according to research by RetailMeNot and the Centre for Retail Research. 

Other key findings include:

  • £966m UK Black Friday spend would represent an 18% increase on 2014.
  • US shoppers will spend £1.72bn on Black Friday, an increase of 16% on 2014 figures. 
  • French shoppers will spend £159m on Black Friday, Germans £281m, Italians £45m, Spanish £38m and Dutch £26m.

Black Friday week to attract one in five British shoppers

A fifth of UK shoppers will make purchases during Black Friday week, making it even more popular than the week before Christmas for festive shopping, according to a consumer survey by SAS.

Other key findings include:

  • Eight out of 10 UK consumers plan to spend the same or more on gifts compared to last year.
  • The most optimistic shoppers are 18-29-year-olds, with 29% planning to spend more.

Men will be the biggest shoppers on Black Friday

Nearly twice as many UK men (45%) will definitely spend money on Black Friday and Cyber Monday than women (28%), according to research by Rocket Fuel. 

37% of these men know exactly what they want to buy and where they want to buy it. 

70% say “no” to Black Friday

70% of online shoppers have no plans to shop online on Black Friday this year, according to a new poll by NTT Com Secirity. 

Other key findings include:

  • Two thirds are concerned about the privacy and safety of their personal information online.
  • Theft of credit card or other personal information is seen as the biggest threat to privacy online.
  • Around one tenth admit they would carry on using a site if it suffered a data breach.  

Half of retailers scrap time-bound Black Friday deals

More than half of retailers (54%) are scrapping time-bound offers this Black Friday to discourage shoppers from lurking on websites and hitting the ‘refresh’ button, according to research by RetailMeNot. 

Other key findings include:

  • Two-thirds (66%) of retailers have stockpiled high-demand products in order to meet demand.
  • Eight out of ten (84%) retailers have created dedicated Black Friday shopping pages.
  • Three-quarters (78%) are investing in extra bandwidth to prevent websites from ‘toppling over’ during peak times.
  • More than three quarters (78%) of retailers plan to allow additional time to deliver orders (of up to 4-5 days) to ease pressure on delivery firms.
  • Nine out of ten (86%) retailers are touting ‘click-and-collect’ services.   

Retailers turn to data analytics to cash in on Black Friday

UK retailers using data analytics to drive business decisions are three times more optimistic about a successful Black Friday than those with little to no use of data analytics, research from Tableau suggests.

Almost one in four (24%) of UK retailers are not using data effectively enough to optimise sales, however. 

Small retailers could lose out by failing to embrace data analytics

Almost half (49%) of small retailers currently do not analyse their data, according to the same Tableau research.

Despite this, 67% of small retailers believe they do have the right skills to take advantage of data effectively, and only a third (33%) plan to increase spending on analytics this year. 

Mobile accounted for 54% of Black Friday Bing searches last year

The majority of 2014 searches made on Bing with retail intent came from mobile devices, according to figures from Bing Ads, and we can surely expect that figure to grow this year.

Of all the mobile searches, 41% came from smartphones.

In total there was a 200% uplift of retail intent search volume growth during the week of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Attitudes toward Black Friday evenly split between positive/negative

31% of consumers look favourably on major discount events such as Black Friday, while 30% look unfavourably, according to an eDigitalResearch report. 

Other key findings:

  • Almost a third (30%) of online shoppers are either ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to shop during this year’s Black Friday.
  • Three quarters (77%) of previous Black Friday shoppers rated last years’ experience as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

Fashion retailers’ online experience not living up to customer expectations

More than half (52%) of online fashion retailers are bombarding customers with irrelevant messages about products and items they would never want to buy in the run-up to Black Friday, according to research by Aimia. 

Other key findings include:

  • Two thirds (66%) of online fashion shoppers have experienced online adverts for fashion products that they would never buy.
  • Just 6% of online fashion shoppers say they often receive suggestions for fashion items that are suited to their tastes.
  • Seven in ten (69%) of Britons say they will close down accounts and subscriptions and ‘unfriend’ companies on social channels as a result of poorly targeted communications.
  • Nearly half 49% of online fashion shoppers have experienced difficulty in finding what they are looking for because a retailer’s website is difficult to navigate.
  • More than half (56%) of online fashion shoppers say online fashion retailers’ sites are difficult to navigate because there are too many products.

Black Friday doesn’t influence premium shoppers’ purchasing habits

80% of premium shoppers are not letting Black Friday influence their shopping habits this Christmas, according to new research by Leapfrogg.

40% say they have no intention of waiting until Black Friday to buy gifts, while another 40% say they might make a purchase if something takes their eye on the day but wouldn’t base their shopping plans around it.

Just 10% of premium shoppers say they are waiting for Black Friday to do their Christmas shopping or buy specific items. 

US sites ranking well for ‘Black Friday’ on UK Google searches

Some of the biggest American retailers are ranking high on Google UK for search terms relating to Black Friday, according to a recent post by Econsultancy’s Ben Davis

Below is page one of the UK SERPs (search engine results pages) for the term ‘Black Friday’. 

black friday google uk serps

As you can see, six out of nine results are US sites, including Amazon US, Target, Walmart and Groupon. 

Average order value will rise by 118% this Black Friday

The total number of UK consumers who will make a purchase will increase by more than 400% this Black Friday, with average order value rising by 118%, according to data from Emarsys. 

Other key findings include:

  • There will be almost a 500% increase in clothing, accessories, sports and outdoor goods purchases, with average order value increasing by £20.
  • There will be an increase in health and beauty product purchases, with average order value increasing by £15.

UK consumers to miss out on three-billion-point loyalty earning opportunity on Black Friday

Brands are not doing enough to encourage customer engagement through loyalty programmes on Black Friday, according to research by Collinson Latitude. 

Key findings include:

  • Brand loyalty (49%) and opportunities to earn reward points (33%) are among the biggest factors influencing consumers’ Black Friday purchasing decisions.
  • Despite this, consumers will only use two loyalty programmes on the day out of the average of eight they belong to.
  • The most popular reasons for not using loyalty programmes on Black Friday include a lack of special deals (38%), not knowing they can be used (18%), and a lack of personally relevant offers (17%).
  • Almost all consumers think loyalty programmes could be improved, with top improvements including more relevant offers (31%), a more personal experience (18%), and greater ease of use (17%).

For lots more up-to-date statistics…                                           

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