Cost-of-living crisis casts shadow over Europe’s Black Friday sales

Europe’s retailers are hoping Black Friday discount day will get shoppers spending, though it takes place against a backdrop of a worsening cost-of-living crisis and the distraction of the soccer World Cup.

Retailers across Europe fear the overall Christmas trading season could be the worst in at least a decade as shoppers cut back, while the costs of doing business show no sign of abating, squeezing profit margins.

Double-digit inflation has dented consumers’ purchasing power and their confidence is also at or close to the gloomiest on record as soaring energy bills add to the spiraling cost of living. But to help budget their finances, consumers have begun their Christmas shopping early this year and many still look set to shop on Black Friday.

Some consumers may, however, have other priorities, with Wales, England, the Netherlands and Poland all in action on Friday at the World Cup.

Britons will spend £8.7 billion ($10.5 billion) over the Black Friday weekend (November 25 to Nov. 28), according to research by GlobalData for VoucherCodes - up 0.8 percent year-onyear but masking a big drop in volumes once inflation is accounted for.

This year, consumers will use Black Friday, which has become more of an online event, much more for jumping on spontaneous deals and for Christmas gifts, rather than for bigger, delayed purchases, according to consultants McKinsey. Its research shows a quarter of UK consumers have already done their Christmas shopping, while about one in 10 is planning to do most of it on Black Friday.

Idealo, the European price comparison portal, said 65 percent of online Italian shoppers are ready to buy a product during the event.

In France, 70 percent plan to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to research by PwC France.

However, the Spanish are less keen, with just 24 percent of shoppers planning to take advantage of Black

Friday deals to get a head start on their Christmas shopping, according to the Spanish Association of Mass Consumer Goods Companies.

In the United States, the National Retail Federation (NRF) has forecast holiday sales would rise at a slower pace this year, while Amazon has forecast its slowest revenue growth for any holiday period in years.

In Britain, the Black Friday trading period is particularly important for the likes of department store group John Lewis, consumer electricals retailers Currys and AO World , and general merchandise retailer Argos, which is part of supermarket group Sainsbury’s.