Britons to spend £1.8m a minute on Black Friday

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 17, 2017

Black Friday will see Britons going on a £2.6 billion shopping spree and spending £1.8 million a minute, a new study shows. Spending on the day will rise 8% and over the seven-day Black Friday week, spending should rise 4% to £10.1 billion.

VoucherCodes and the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) said November 24 will see an enthusiastic response to deals both in-store and online, despite issues such as rising inflation and economic uncertainty.

And the fashion sector will likely be pinning a lot of hopes on the event after a dismal October and early November when even strong store-based retailers have struggled.

If the spending predictions are borne out, it will mean a record spend. But it could also create problems further down the line in December as many shoppers will have spent their seasonal budgets early and will be waiting for more markdowns before they buy any extra product.

That effect was certainly seen last year with several big names reporting a disproportionate spike in spending around Black Friday. Argos saw its biggest ever sales day and Black Friday week gave John lewis is biggest ever seven-day sales period in 153 years. But December sales overall were weaker across UK retail.

The study said that e-spending is expected to rise 15% to £1.15 billion around this year’s Black Friday, which means that online will take a bigger share than ever of overall spending for the day. 

Meanwhile, ‘high street’ spend should rise 4% to £1.45 billion as 9.5 million shoppers head to stores.