Black Friday is Changing Traditional Christmas Purchasing Patterns

As the phenomenon that is Black Friday fast approaches, a PwC survey indicates that average spend is set to double this year. This follows on from 2015 where online sales grew by 35% year on year, breaking through the £1bn barrier for the first time.

Black Friday is significantly changing purchasing patterns. Whereas traditionally Boxing Day was the key sales day, now the overwhelming sales spikes are around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Christmas spend is shifting forward two weeks, but it’s not necessarily additional spend – people are simply spending earlier but are not digging deeper into their wallets.

It’s also becoming more of an online phenomenon here. While in the US Black Friday is part of the Thanksgiving Holiday, in the UK it’s another working day. Its impact on in-store traffic will therefore never be as great. This, along with past scenes of chaos and the pure convenience of shopping online means 77% of respondents to the PwC survey are planning to make online purchases on Black Friday, compared to just 17% in store.

However, changing purchasing habits patterns are not simply down to Black Friday. You can’t forget the importance of the weather on behaviour. A raft of companies, including Next and Primark, reported disappointing sales in the run up to last Christmas due to the unseasonable weather negatively impacting on the demand for clothes. The mild September and October we’ve just had has resulted in sluggish sales while some commentators believe there is a change in habits away from buying clothes to spending more on holidays and eating out.

To find out more about how Black Friday is changing Christmas purchasing behaviours, see the video from our October Insights Conference that addresses this issue.