Agile digital retailers will thrive on Black Friday
39.7% of UK consumers intend to spend during the 2020 Black Friday period, according to research by GlobalData.
The company surveyed 2,000 Brits and found that Black Friday is an important occasion to purchase Christmas gifts for those who have been hardest hit by the economic impacts of Covid-19.
Emily Salter, Retail Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Black Friday will be most popular among younger shoppers, with 60.3% of 16-34 year olds intending to buy items on a promotion this year, persuaded by the extended discounting period among many retailers and the potential for significant discounts.”
“Though this will help retailers to clear stock, especially seasonal clothing and footwear items, it will be detrimental to their profitability.”
Black Friday has become an increasingly online event, and will be even more so this year due to coronavirus restrictions. This may lead to backlogs of orders and extended delivery times as retailers must balance increased online demand with social distancing and courier capacity.
Agile digital players such as Amazon and Asos will be more likely to be able to cope with this and meet high consumer expectations of delivery speed.
Salter comments: “Electricals and technology is the category that most consumers intend to purchase, with 53.8% of those planning to participate in the event wanting to buy into the sector.”
“We expect clothing and footwear to be less popular this year due to dampened demand for partywear, though branded sportswear could be a saving grace for retailers such as Asos and Next, as well as sports brands themselves, including Nike and Adidas.”
“Consumers will be likely to spend on other sectors instead, including homewares as they continue to spend more time at home,” she concludes.
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