What can UK retailers Expect?
With Black Friday just hours away shoppers from across the UK are looking out for the best deals. This year is expected to be even busier than last years rush, and by a significant amount. Sales during the 24 hour period of Black Friday are expected to exceed £1bn for the first time in the UK. This marks a substantial increase on last years sales, which totaled £810m, in fact this years sales are expected to increase by 32% on last year. If this years predictions of £1.07bn spent prove to be accurate then it will be the most spent by online shoppers in one 24 hour period in the UK ever, if we break this number down it is equivalent to £12,384 spent every second. When you compare this to last years figure of £9,375 being spent every second its clear that this years Black Friday event will make up a sizable percentage of sales for UK retailers over the Christmas period.
How Does Black Friday Compare to Other Key Dates?
Black Friday is undoubtedly the largest single day for online retailers in the UK, however this doesn’t mean that its the only key date retailers should be paying attention to. The traditional boxing day sales and the more recent Cyber Monday still provide a considerable shopping rush. Looking at the sales figures for last year Black Friday leads the way with £810m but Cyber Monday isn’t far behind with £720m and Boxing Day is slightly behind that with £702m in online sales. With all three of these figures set to break last years records its clear that eCommerce is playing a larger and larger role in the way UK shoppers are going about their Christmas purchases.
Is everyone getting involved?
Although Black Friday has made its mark on the UK not everyone is getting involved this year. The biggest retailer to distance themselves from the American tradition is Asda who have decided not to take part in this years event. This is most likely down to Asda seeing some of the worst scenes in their stores with frantic shoppers scrambling to pick up the best deals. However Tesco have decided to embrace Black Friday this year despite the mad rush that it will cause in their stores, though they will close their Extra stores between 12-5am in an attempt to control the madness.
This year Black Friday will most likely be the biggest single day of the year for retailers both online and in-store with last years sales numbers being surpassed by a large margin. If current trends continue this American tradition could become just as big in the UK as across the water so it would be advisable for UK retailers to take notice and make sure they arn’t missing out!
About Opus Retail Solutions
Opus Retail Solutions specialise in providing Retail, Wholesale, & Integrated e-Commerce Solutions through its Software suite Opus Retail Manager. The entire EPOS operation is managed from Opus’s Headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland, along with regional development and support offices in the UK. Opus has been developing software for over 30 years and was one of the first Windows based EPOS systems in 1997. Opus Retail Manager is hardware independent and we offer hardware depending on client requirements, policy or budget.
The key to Opus’s success lies with its ongoing investment in Research and Development and Training to keep our Software products and services and staff world class. Services range from specifying client requirements to providing custom modifications, system implementation, training with a special emphasis on after-sales support so our customers can get the most from their system. The Company invests c £100k pa in R&D to ensure it’s software remains world-class.
The entire Opus operation is managed from Opus’s Headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland, along with regional development and support offices in the UK and Russia. Opus has partners all over the world and currently ships the software in five languages. Please contact us if you would like to discuss a partnership.
Although our Retail Manager Software and services procedures have evolved over the years from DOS through Windows enabling us to stay ahead of the curve, our core objective is still to provide innovative, best in breed, easy to use and robust EPoS solutions, no matter what the industry, the size or the individual need.
