Black Friday sales will kick-start Christmas shopping, but shoppers anticipate a curb in spending through December and in the January sales.
The survey by The Market Creative finds that more than two-thirds of consumers plan to take advantage of Black Friday sales with 62 per cent shopping for Christmas gifts. However 26 per cent anticipate this will mean they will spend less overall in December.
The impact on spending is likely to run into early 2017 as 28 per cent of shoppers say Black Friday had made them less interested in the January sales.
Two-thirds say this was because the offers they could get over Black Friday and Cyber Monday were generally better, while 35 per cent claim they intended to blow their budget on Black Friday sales and therefore would have less to spend later on.
Black Friday has changed the Christmas shopping habits of younger shoppers, but the trend was less apparent among older age groups.
Of the 18-24 year olds, 83 per cent plan to take advantage of Black Friday sales and 86 per cent will buy Christmas gifts. The older the shopper, the less likely they are to participate in Black Friday.
At the other end of the spectrum, the over 65s, of who 47 per cent plan to buy something and just a quarter will buy Christmas presents.
Sue Benson, managing director at The Market Creative, thinks that the scenes of frenzied shoppers battling for bargains have influenced our perception that Black Friday deals are shorter and deeper than other sales.
Benson continues, ‘Coupled with our desire for instant gratification, Black Friday could well be a retailers dream period as they get much-needed pre-Christmas sales in early.
‘But it’s not all good news. The Christmas and January sales have traditionally been the most lucrative for retailers and Black Friday has dragged spending forward.’
She concludes, ‘Consumer wallets are finite, so we’re seeing December full-price sales and profits cannibalised. Another watch out is the discount strategy involved, if merchandise isn’t shifted how low are retailers prepared to go in the traditional Boxing Day and January sale period?’
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