Black Friday frenzy for bargain hunters
RETAILERS are readying themselves for another record Black Friday today despite days of sales ahead of the event and warnings to consumers to disregard the hype and spend sensibly.
The global sales bonanza – originally a 24-hour affair – now comes after two weeks of intense effort by retailers to lure customers with bargains.
Retailers were promising a fresh set of deals from midnight online and a number of big-name chains were extending their high street opening hours to cope with expected customer enthusiasm.
Tesco said last year’s Black Friday, which lasted a week for the supermarket giant, saw more than six million visits to the Tesco Direct website, a 40% increase on a typical week.
Argos recorded its biggest-ever day of sales last year and John Lewis had its biggest week for sales in its 153-year history.
However, experts point to the event moving increasingly online and expect high street figures will be up just 4% on last year, with past scenes of in-store brawls over cut-price televisions unlikely to be repeated.
Britons are expected to spend £2.6bn today alone – an 8% increase overall on last year – and £7.8bn over the four-day period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, up 7% on last year, according to predictions by VoucherCodes and the Centre for Retail Research (CRR).
Their figures suggest that Cyber Monday could even overtake Black Friday by £7m to become the biggest day for online and offline spending this year, with an estimated 21.5m Britons expected to take part in the traditionally online event.
Shoppers were out in Cardiff city centre yesterday, picking up bargains before Black Friday itself and trying to get shopping out of the way before the event.
Zain Ahmed, 24, from Roath, Cardiff, said: “I would rather do it online. It’s more convenient and I can actually compare deals much more easily.
“I will be buying a lot of presents for my friends for Christmas, but I won’t be coming to the shops. The thing is a lot of people are going to focus on the shops and it will be very busy.”
Karen Brain, 50, from Abertillery, said: “I usually try to steer clear on the day because it’s quite manic. If I had known it was Black Friday I probably wouldn’t have come.”
Sophie Fuller, 32, and her partner Alex Percival, 28, from Lampeter, Ceredigion, were shopping in the Welsh capital yesterday.
Sophie said: “We have absolutely no need for any more drive to consumerism in this country. I actually felt proud last year when people just didn’t seem to care about it.”
Father-of-two Rhys Allsopp, 24, from Caldicot, said: “I’m more of an online kind of guy. You have to get up at six or seven in the morning in order to get the best deals or they go.
“I’ve seen people queuing in Tesco for hours. I wouldn’t say it’s put me off, but that’s why I’m not going.
“People love it and you can pick up a bargain, but it’s not all that it’s made out to be.”