"Black Friday becoming something in the UK impacted on sales.... It also coincided with payday for many, so there was a big push for retailers to get some sales. Retailers did a lot of cut price offers and events."
- Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard
Everyone know that the U.K. economy, retailers in particular, receive a major boost from sales during the Black Friday. However, there is a similar event, called the Boxing Day, when servants and tradesmen received gifts from their bosses and employers. Moreover, it is a time of increasingly competitive discounts. This time retailers receive the greatest amount of returns, and just in 2009 around 12 million shoppers appeared at the sales, a figure more than 20% higher than a year earlier. This year, however, the strongest gain are logged at online sales. Internet orders were up 13% on Christmas Eve in 2012 and the pace of growth is likely to accelerate. According to latest estimates, U.K. consumers can spend around 45 million hours on retail websites during the Christmas Day.
This year final figures showed that there were only 0.5% more shoppers this year from the same period a year earlier. In general, bargain-hunters visited traditional town centre shops fell by 9%, offsetting a 10% gain at retail parks and shopping centres. While the economy is performing well and building up steam with each month, stagnating wages and increasing utility bills are squeezing living standards, hence, consumers are left with little cash to spend. Nonetheless, a retail sales report from the ONS on January 17 is expected to show a strong rise in retail sales due to a pick up in online sales.
© Dukascopy Bank SA