Cost-of-living crisis casts shadow over Black Friday in Europe.
Europe’s retailers are hoping Black Friday discount day will get shoppers spending, though it is taking place against a backdrop of a worsening cost-of-living crisis and the distraction of the soccer World Cup.
Retailers across Europe fear the overall Christmas trading season could be the worst in at least a decade as shoppers cut back, while the costs of doing business show no sign of abating, squeezing profit margins.
Double-digit inflation has dented consumers’ purchasing power and their confidence is also at or close to the gloomiest on record as soaring energy bills add to the spiralling cost of living.
Britons will spend £8.7-billion ($10.5-billion) over the Black Friday weekend (Nov. 25 to Nov. 28), according to research by GlobalData for VoucherCodes – up 0.8 per cent year-on-year but masking a big drop in volumes once inflation is accounted for.
As of 1000 GMT, Barclaycard Payments, which processes £1 ($1.21) in every £3 spent in the UK, had seen a volume of payments broadly in line with 2021, it said.
“Our data shows that Black Friday is off to a steady start this year, despite the challenging economic backdrop,” Marc Pettican, head of Barclaycard Payments, said.
This year, consumers will use Black Friday, which has become more of an online event, much more for jumping on spontaneous deals and for Christmas gifts, rather than for bigger, delayed purchases, according to consultants McKinsey.
Its research shows a quarter of UK consumers have already done their Christmas shopping, while about one in 10 is planning to do most of it on Black Friday.
In France, 70 per cent plan to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to research by PwC France. However, the Spanish are less keen, with just 24 per cent of shoppers planning to take advantage of Black Friday deals to get a head start on their Christmas shopping, according to the Spanish Association of Mass Consumer Goods Companies.
In the United States, the National Retail Federation (NRF) has forecast holiday sales would rise at a slower pace this year, but it estimates 166.3 million people still plan to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.
Amazon has forecast its slowest revenue growth for any holiday period in years and workers at its sites across the world, including in the United States, Germany and France, have been urged to strike on Black Friday over pay.
