Are you ready for 'Black Five Days'?
Nov 21, 2016
The countdown is now on to retail’s busiest period of the peak season – Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year, the annual retail shopping bonanza Black Friday falls on Friday 25th November, with Cyber Monday hot on its heels on Monday 28th November.
Despite having US origins, Black Friday, which sees retailers prices plummet in an attempt to get people splashing the cash in the run up to Christmas, has been embraced by retailers and shoppers and is now the biggest shopping day of the year in the UK. Last year UK shoppers spent a staggering £2bn in shops and online in just 24 hours and this year more than a quarter of UK shoppers have said that they plan to buy on Black Friday.
Whereas Black Friday started off as a single day of discounting, the shopping event has now evolved with many retailers choosing to spread their discounts over a longer period of time running into Cyber Monday, hence it being referred to as ‘Black Five Days’. This is in order to avoid a repeat of the chaos encountered in 2014 which saw high street scrums, websites struggling to handle the increased traffic and mammoth delivery delays!
IMRG, supported by SimilarWeb data, is forecasting that an eye watering £6.77bn will be spent on UK online retail sites alone over the Black Friday / Cyber Monday period this year.
There is no doubt that Black Friday and Cyber Monday offer a significant opportunity for retailers to boost their sales. However, planning is everything and preparation is vital. Here at wnDirect our dedicated Peak Planning Team have been extremely busy working alongside our retailers for some time now getting prepared to ensure that the frenzied four day shopping extravaganza runs as smoothly as possible. We’re ready, the question is…are you?
