Quiet start to Black friday sales in capital
SCENES from America typically show chaotic scenes of shoppers scrambling for a Black Friday deal – but it was a very different sight in Cardiff yesterday morning.
The US’s recent marketing ploy, which has made its way across the Atlantic, marks one of the biggest days of the Christmas shopping season with retailers advertising large discounts on items and past years have seen enormous queues and even brawls – but the streets of the capital were largely empty first thing.
Heading down to the capital’s biggest shopping centre just before 9am there were no crowds of people. Instead, the day of discounts and deals seemed just like any other. And wet.
The streets, arcades and St David’s Shopping Centre were extremely quiet with very few shoppers around.
In Royal Arcade, a smattering of people walked through, though most shops are completely empty.
There were very few people walking around streets like The Hayes too, where the Christmas market is.
The reason why it was so quiet? Probably because there are so many deals to be had online and they don’t just run on Black Friday. Some have been going for several days.
Consumers are forecast to spend £2.4bn on deals in stores and online, down from last year’s £2.6bn, according to the predictions from the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) and VoucherCodes.co.uk.
Analyst Springboard has also said footfall and spending activity over this year’s Black Friday period is likely to be affected by economic pressures such as high debt levels and significant living costs, compounded by the event taking place a week earlier this year – before many consumers are paid for the month.
Steven Madeley, general manager for St David’s Cardiff, has said: “What was once an American trend, Black Friday soon became extremely popular in the UK.
“However, over the last couple of years we’ve seen this adapt into a longer period, allowing shoppers to enjoy discounts for not just one day, but for up to a week.
“On the day itself we no longer see a scramble for the best deals, but considered decisions made on purchasing items.”
A report out has shown than more than two fifths of Britons were planning to spend in the Black Friday sales yesterday.
Some 42% of Britons were said to be looking forward to the event, and 22% were specifically looking to buy Christmas presents – while 25% are intending to shop on Cyber Monday, a survey by KPMG suggests.
Paul Martin, UK head of retail at KPMG, said: “Retail performance throughout the year has been dreary to say the least, and we’ve certainly had a shaky start to the all-important ‘golden quarter.’
“Retailers will naturally be keen to make the most of these events, and our survey would certainly suggest that consumers are gearing up for it.
“Many shoppers are likely to recall how the slashed pricing in store resulted in stampedes, which is just not what mature consumers seek out.
“Since Black Friday was adopted by Britons back in 2013, retailers have increasingly moved offers online, and that coincidentally is where a higher proportion of younger consumers can be found.”
However, consumer group Which? said its over-arching message to shoppers this year was to not feel pressured into spending after finding that nine in 10 Black Friday deals last year were the same price or even cheaper at other times of the year.