Black Friday discounting, a sales phenomenon recently adopted from the USA, led to strong growth in sales of furniture and electrical appliances, though those were the only categories, excluding online sales, to record year-on-year growth.
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With high-street sales struggling and online sales surging, separate findings today suggest more than a third of United Kingdom shoppers plan to borrow money to pay for Christmas presents this year.
According to the latest BRC-KPMG Retail/Online Sales Monitor, UK retail sales climbed 0.7% during the month, compared to a 2.2% increase in November 2014.
Retails sales up by 0.7% on a total basis, compared to a total rise of 2.2% over the same period in 2014.
On a three-month basis, total non-food sales were up 3.5%, ahead of their twelve-month average of 2.9%.
“Leading into Christmas, we expect to see online shopping continue to make dents in footfall activity”.
However, the impact was not as pronounced as it was 12 months earlier.
“November’s relatively flat sales figures are a reality check for the retail sector with consumers holding off for a Black Friday bargain pitted against retailers determined to hold onto their hard-earned margins”, he said. Republication or redistribution of content provided by EconoTimes is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of EconoTimes, except for personal and non-commercial use. “This year’s was certainly an online Black Friday, which drove penetration levels to an all-time high of 22.4%”.
For the first time this year, The Black Friday long weekend was an online shopping experience for consumers, and it appears that click and collect opportunities have not generated the uplifts in footfall that some retailers may have hoped for.
McCorquodale said that “despite the hype around Black Friday, there was minimal loosening of the family purse strings compared with last year and retailers, facing significant cost increases next year, will be striving to wean United Kingdom shoppers off the discounting drug”.
BRC said clothing registered a decline in November, but ended on an encouraging note with Black Friday deals. “However, as most last order dates for online Christmas shopping occur on the 18th and 19th of December, it is possible we will see that traditional spike in footfall on the 23rd December as consumers head in store for last minute Christmas buying”.
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“The conversion of people’s higher disposable income into retail sales shouldn’t be taken for granted”, she added.
