After a depressingly slow November, retailers could have been forgiven for thinking that Christmas spending might never come. With the promotions coming to an end, did Black Friday and Cyber Monday actually deliver?
Spending during the month of November was terrible, and many retail experts predicted that the results of Black Friday and Cyber Monday would be a real acid test for how consumer sentiment was shaping up in the all-important run-up to Christmas.
“This was the first real test of whether the budget announcement a month ago has done anything to shift the needle on consumer confidence, or if shoppers are simply finding new ways to spend their money,” said one analyst.
With a lot hanging on the promotional period itself, how then have retailers and the wider public responded?
Sales data from Nationwide showed a 16% increase in online card transactions compared to 2023 at the end of Black Friday – covering a total of 7.39 million transactions through that bank alone.
Mark Nalder, director of payment strategy at Nationwide Building Society said: “Our customers have made a staggering 7.39 million transactions today, demonstrating they have been out in force looking for a bargain. The day has certainly lived up to its reputation as one of the biggest single shopping dates in the British calendar.
“With many Brits telling us they use Black Friday to buy a quarter of their Christmas gifts, it is perhaps no wonder so many have used the day to get ahead of the festive rush this year.”
Sales data from VoucherCodes also showed that consumers went large on their Christmas shopping during Black Friday, with UK consumers spending over £3.33bn on that day alone.
Going against the grain of recent Black Friday sales periods, VoucherCodes said that in-store shopping on the day rose by 4.6% to over £1.88bn, while online sales slipped by 6.3% year-on-year to £1.45bn.
Footfall
Despite data from MRI Software revealing that footfall before 1pm on Black Friday was down by 0.5% on the same day last year, there was a vast improvement throughout the rest of the day.
Overall footfall on Black Friday this year was up by 3.4% across all UK retail destinations compared with the same event last year, with retail park and shopping centre footfall rising by 5.5% and 4.4% respectively.
The data shows that the boost in traffic happened after 5pm as consumers hit the shops after work, with retail park footfall increasing by 7% after this time, and shopping centre footfall rising by 12.8% year-on-year.
MRI software marketing and insights director Jenni Matthews said the increase in footfall on Black Friday could be due to festive markets and the start of the festive party season.
She added that the data suggests that “consumers are shaking off a challenging autumn/winter to make the most of the festive deals which will come as welcome news for retailers with less than four weeks until Christmas Day.”
Online
An event that’s becoming increasingly popular online, it’s not surprising that Adobe’s data shows Black Friday was recorded as the biggest single online shopping day of 2024 in the UK.
A total of £1.12bn was spent online in the UK on Black Friday itself, up by 7.2% year-on-year, and becoming the biggest online Black Friday since 2021.
Buy now pay later services accounted for 10.5% of total online spend on the day, increasing by 15.6% compared with Black Friday in 2023.
While the main event performed well in terms of spend, many retailers have been running their Black Friday campaigns for several weeks.
Adobe’s data shows that online spending from November 1 to November 29 reached £11.7bn in the UK, up by 5.1% year-on-year, with the average online prices discounted at 13.4% compared with pre-holiday season levels.
Adobe digital insights director Vivek Pandya said: “With UK online Black Friday spending topping £1bn this year, it’s clear that this remains a hugely important date in the diary, both for retailers looking to boost their sales, and for increasingly price-sensitive consumers who are looking to these deep discounting days as a great opportunity to secure a bargain and make their money go further.”
Mobile and apps
Mobile app downloads and spend make up a huge proportion of Black Friday traffic and sales as many consumers shop on the go.
Adobe added that £623.9m was spent on mobile during Black Friday, growing by 9.8% from last year.
Marketing and data analytics company AppsFlyer found the share of UK mobile users who both downloaded an app and made a purchase on Black Friday rose to 13.5% in 2024, a 14% increase from the same period last year.
Across Black Friday and the following day, the most downloaded app in the UK on mobile was My Poundland with 40,800 downloads.
Rounding off the top five was Tesco Grocery and Clubcard, Morrisons Match and More, Boots and M&S.
“The appetite for loyalty schemes and rewards is clear, with appearances in the top (15) downloaded apps in the UK on Black Friday from Asda’s Rewards app, alongside JD Sports’ loyalty app ‘JD Status’ and Sainsbury’s Nectar rewards app,” said Sue Azari, industry lead of ecommerce at AppsFlyer.
She added: “It demonstrates that consumers expect to be rewarded for their loyalty and are happy to participate in this via a mobile experience.”
While Cyber Monday still has a few hours left to run, and the full sales picture won’t be clear for days or weeks to come, initial data across sales, footfall and app usage shows that Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024 have delivered a much-needed shot in the arm for UK retail.
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