High street stalwarts shun Black Friday
High street stalwarts are shunning Black Friday this year due to the discount shopping event losing its pull among consumers.
The likes of Marks and Spencer and Next will stop offering discounts on products due to the event squeezing margins and offering little value to businesses.
Other online retailers, including Amazon and AO.com, are intending on staggering discounts over a longer period instead of front loading them on a single day to avoid surges in demand that would likely put pressure on already wilting supply chains.
Black Friday falls on November 26 this year.
The event was introduced in the UK in 2010 by Amazon in a bid to emulate the frenzied shopping scenes seen across the Atlantic in the US.
However, its sheen has diluted in recent years, particularly among businesses as a result of the low margins they make on heavily discounted products.
40 per cent of Britons no longer believe that the event offers good deals, according to research by Sitecore, a digital marketing agency.
Paige O’Neill, chief marketing officer at Sitecore, said: “The role that Black Friday plays in the lead-up to Christmas in the UK is waning. With brands fighting harder than ever to differentiate their offer, there must now be a bigger focus on offering personalised experiences, unique to a brand, rather than just flash sales.”
The news was first reported by The Times.