The next four days are set to be a strong signifier over how Christmas will pan out for retailers. Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be key shopping days, especially for online retailers as consumers ring the tills after pay day.
Here are a range of Christmas shopping predictions.
Shopping mall Westfield has predicted ‘Super Saturday‘ to be the busiest shopping day this year; Director Myf Ryan says sales on Super Saturday could easily outstrip those of Cyber Monday.
Rakuten‘s Play.com maintains that Cyber Monday will be the most popular shopping day and predicts peak shopping periods at 1pm and in the evening between 7-9pm on the day. They say that the US phenomenon of one-day sale day Black Friday has not resonated as well with British customers.
TV and web provider Virgin Media, who surveyed 2,000 UK adults, found that more will hold fire until Christmas Eve rather than buy online on Cyber Monday and say only 5 per cent of Brits will fill their online shopping baskets on Monday. Director of broadband and home phone, Joe Lathan said Cyber Monday was an oddity because people turned off videos and other entertainment to focus primarily on shopping.
Amazon have lead the charge for Black Friday discounts with its UK arm offering ‘lightning deals‘ across electrical, clothing and John Lewis have launched Black Friday promotions for the first time with 50 per cent off selected items.
Special bargain days are known to incur infamous scenes and this year has proved no different. A woman was taken to hospital with a broken wrist in west Belfast this morning after a fracas in Asda over cut-price television sets. Chief merchandising officer Andrew Moore, said: “We have put a stake in the ground for any other retailers who will try to follow our lead next year.”
