Are the UK's retailers ready for Black Friday?
Black Friday has now officially become a thing in the UK. Though previously a US-only phenomenon, last year saw it take off over here.
Remember those fights over big TVs in Tesco? Well, we can look forward to more of the same on November 27.
This Google Trends chart shows the rapid growth in interest, and we can see it starting to build for this year (the chart goes up to last month).
UK ecommerce sites which intend to take part in all the fun are now preparing their landing pages for the event.
For example, a search for Black Friday deals, a popular search term as shown by the red line above (and one which produces mainly retail results), we can see who is ready.
Last year, the unexpected demand took out some major ecommerce sites, including Tesco, John Lewis, Curry’s and Argos.
Undeterred by this experience, and hopefully after some load testing and other behind the scenes work, these retailers and others are back for more.
Argos just can’t wait, and is presumably dedicating its homepage to Black Friday for the rest of the month.
It is also suggesting that customers pre-register for an account which will provide ‘quicker access to our biggest deals and faster in-store collection’. Sounds like Argos is just a little worried about traffic volumes this year.
It may be right, as this handy infographic shows:
Overall, the UK’s retailers could perhaps do without Black Friday. Indeed, John Lewis called on retailers to calm it down and concentrate on electricals this year.
The landing pages currently in place suggest that electricals will be the focus, but we’ll see what happens on the day.
Retailers may not be keen on Black Friday as it concentrates sales into a couple of days and affects margins. They’d prefer a steadier flow of sales.
With they hype starting already, it looks like Black Friday will just as big, if not bigger than last year. One thing is certain though: I won’t be heading to the shops on November 27.
It’s obvious that participation in Black Friday is more a matter of necessity than choice for most retailers, but being properly prepared for the promotions can really maximisize the relative benefits that a retailer can enjoy during the event. As we’ve seen in past Black Fridays, keeping everything running smoothly during the event is absolutely critical. Making sure that all of your EPOS are ideally suited to purpose and protected against substantial downtime by a reliable maintennance team can minimize the impact of the additional pressures of Black Friday. Providing enhanced staff training can help to equip everyone instore to smoothly process the enormously elevated levels of footfall that almost all retail locations experience during the event. I’d advise all retailers to speak with their IT providers well in advance of the event to best prepare for this most intense sales period.
Simon Phillips, Retail Sales at Barron McCann