Black Friday is an important “holiday” for shoppers all over the world. Scoring some nice discounts in time for the Christmas holidays can save people a lot of money. For the first time in years, interestingly, Black Friday growth in the UK seems on track to surpass US growth. This is an exciting development, considering the Brexit has decreased household wealth by quite a margin.
Black Friday Continues To Gain Traction in The UK
Even though a lot of consumers feel that the importance of Black Friday is vastly overstated, this unofficial shopping holiday continues to gain traction in the UK. Other countries are putting a lot of effort into this shopping holiday as well, but the United Kingdom is taking the crown where growth is concerned. US Shoppers, on the other hand, seem to be looking forward to Cyber Monday a lot more this year.
Ingenico ePayments analyzes the global online retail growth, and their 2015 findings indicate that the UK will surpass the US in Black Friday growth this year. Just twelve months ago, Black Friday spending nearly tripled in the UK, although it remains unknown why this happened. Even though the US noted a 137% growth, that number was lower than expected.
It has to be said that the United Kingdom is promoting Black Friday a lot harder than they did in previous years. Deals are announced well in advance, and marketplaces such as Amazon remain the go-to place. Large UK brands, though, are going all-in on Black Friday deals as well in the hopes of attracting more foot traffic.
A similar trend can be noted in the rest of Europe, where Black Friday spending has been growing exponentially in recent years. Interestingly enough, a lot of European shoppers will use UK retailers to score discounts if no one else offers a sharp price. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Denmark are also very popular online (or in-store) shopping destinations on this day.
Despite the growth in popularity for Black Friday, retailers need to be more vigilant than on any other day of the year. Fraud rates are destined to go up during this holiday, as the massive influx of orders makes it more difficult to distinguish between genuine and false purchases. Converting visitors into customers is a top priority, but should never come at the cost of payment security.
What is even more surprising is how the UK will consolidate their Black Friday growth this year. Ever since the Brexit vote passed, UK households have lost 10% of their wealth. Moreover, the falling value of the Pound Sterling is not helping domestic purchases by any means. Then again, a good Black Friday revenue total may turn the ship around.
If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.
