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BLACK FRIDAY BECOMES SLACK FRIDAY AS BRITS PLAN TIME OFF TO BAG BARGAINS

BARGAIN-LOVING Brits are planning on throwing sickies and taking time off work to bag Black Friday deals.

Half (49%) of those who plan to shop on Black Friday say they will take some time off work, with a quarter (24%) opting for taking off both Black Friday and Cyber Monday and nearly a fifth (17%) booking a day off.

And those who do go into work won’t let it hold them back as shoppers plan to spend an average of 18 minutes of company time browsing for deals – and 16% spending an HOUR.

The average Black Friday shopper expects to spend £252 before Black Friday and will spend £427 in total.

The peak time for Black Friday shopping will be 9.21am, according to a survey for Digital Commerce Platform Kooomo.

Over half (56%) of shoppers say they have spent more than expected on previous Black Fridays and just a quarter (27%) stick to their budget.

Just half (51%) of shoppers make a shopping list before going online bargain hunting, nearly one in three (28%) have a vague idea of what they want – but a fifth (21%) buy whatever they see at the time.

Less than a fifth (18%) of people will shop on the High Street on Black Friday, with 48% opting to shop via laptop, 44% via desktop and 34% on their phone.

Tech is the most popular (59%) item to buy on Black Friday, followed by clothes (43%), homeware (34%) and cosmetics (27%).

Men are big Black Friday fans, with more (49%) men than women (67%) buying clothes and 67% of men purchasing tech compared to half (50%) of women.

But a third (35%) of people will simply buy whatever deal seems the best – regardless of what the item is.

Men are also bigger Black Friday spenders, expecting to spend an average of £532 compared to £312 for women.

Millennials are also likely to splash out more than other age groups on Black Friday, spending £650 on average.

Ciaran Bollard, CEO of Kooomo Digital Commerce Platform said, “It’s clear that there is an ever-growing appetite for Black Friday deals amongst shoppers. The statistics demonstrate that consumer behaviour has dramatically shifted from offline to online, hence the mammoth spikes in web traffic over the course of a couple of hours – customers want to get in, pick up exactly what they want, and get out. So, retailers need to keep up with the demand – from ensuring that their online stores can handle a surge in traffic, to making sure all websites are optimised for mobile and everything in between. Ultimately, you get out of Black Friday what you put into it, so whether you’re a consumer or a retailer, planning is absolutely key.”

Contributor: Kooomo works with clients to maximise all digital sales channels globally by combining their expertise and next-generation platform, in a proven and affordable digital commerce cloud solution. 

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