Early Black Friday promotions have failed to drive a sales jump so far in November, according to IMRG, as consumer group Which? warned that just 2% of offers are at their cheapest price during the discounting event.

Which? analysed 208 deals available during last year’s Black Friday, compared the prices to those offered in the six months before and after the event, and found that only five offers were the cheapest on the day.

Despite a throng of retailers, including John Lewis kicking off their events “earlier than ever”, the early promotional activities have failed to have the desired sales boost so far this year.

Almost half of the 80 retailers polled by IMRG on November 16 said their Black Friday sales were “below expectations”.

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In the first week of November sales were flat year on year at 0.5%, whilst in the second week sales plunged 6.2%.

IMRG strategy and insight director Andy Mulcahy said: “The signs so far in November have not been very positive, and it means there is a lot of ground to be made up if it is to be a successful trading month for retailers.

“That’s not to say it couldn’t happen; it may be that shoppers are going to concentrate their spend more fully on this week in 2023, and there will likely be some big deals available if demand is slow and they find themselves a bit overstocked.

“Many will be hoping that the upturn in demand arrives very soon.”

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