3 Reasons why Black Friday may lose its appeal

Is your company participating in Black Friday? If so, you’re one of the thousands that are clogging consumer’s inboxes with discounts and specials on the latest services and products.

Black Friday is an American tradition that many businesses around the world appear to have adopted. But there are some indications that show that this popular event is starting to lose its appeal.

One of the many reasons for this is that there is increasingly more evidence to show that it’s not really something that was created for the benefit consumers but a last-ditch attempt for companies to generate some extra cash for their bottom line ahead of Christmas.

Here we unpack this phenomenon and other reasons in a bit more detail:

  1. Brexit is making people spend less

With Brexit and the General Election looming Black Friday and Cyber are losing their shine. According to research from TopCashback.co.uk three in 20 Brits say that Brexit has impacted the way they intend to spend this Black Friday.

Over a third, 34%, have said they will tighten their purse strings and nearly a fifth (18%) will want to stock up on certain sale products in case they can’t get their hands on them next year.

With no end in sight for Brexit, next year may see some more of the same in consumer sentiment and spending. Perhaps the stockpiling element will not be as prominent as most will have bought what they needed in 2019.

For this year, spending will also be reduced because of the elections. According to TopCashbadck.co.uk, 18% have admitted they will be spending differently due to the elections, while 28% have said they will spend less. However, the cashback provider did add that that the same number of consumers (28%) will be spending more.

While it’s clear that Black Friday and the Elections haven’t put consumers off entirely, it’s clear that retailers will have to work extra hard to convince them to spend more and they may be even more conservative next year.

  1. The potential for cyber fraud

Cyber-crime is something we blog about often and it’s events such as Black Friday where criminals will want to capitalise and take advantage of unsuspecting consumers that are looking to bag a bargain.

According to TransUnion online sales are expected to rise again this year, following a record increase last year to over 20% of all sales. The average shopper is expected to spend around £315 both online and in store.

The worry, point out TransUnion, is that retailers are increasingly being targeted in fraud attacks. According to fraud prevention service, Cifas, this year has already seen online retailers hit with 12% increase in fraud overall. Identity fraud is a big issue and 90% of cases result in criminals taking over profiles and making purchasers on user’s accounts without their knowledge.

With an increase in this type of cyber-crime, consumers are bound to become more cautious in the future and only hold accounts with retailers that have proven to have top notch cyber security features on their sites.

  1. The increase in the lack of genuine Black Friday deals

If you’re not offering a genuine deal, then your days of pulling the wool over consumers’ eyes could numbered. An investigation by Which? called ‘The great Black Friday swindle’ has shown that nearly all Black Friday ‘deals’ are cheaper or available for the same price at other times of the year. The consumer champion tracked the prices of 83 products on sale on Black Friday in 2018 for a year from six months before the retail bonanza until six months later.

Deals from Currys PC World, Amazon and John Lewis were tracked, and it was established that just four products (5%) were cheaper on Black Friday than at other times of the year. It also found that 61% of the products on offer were cheaper or the same price on at least one day in the six months before the annual sales event in November last year.

This doesn’t mean that retailers are breaking any laws. But with reports highlighting that Black Friday and is not so special after all, consumers will soon become savvier and look out for deals when they don’t have to endure a major push and shove in store or deal with crashing websites as demand for a bargain create an unpleasant experience.

Black Friday is no longer a special time to bag a unique deal. In fact, some now see this event as a sales gimmick designed to help retailers eek out some more profits before people make a final splurge at Christmas. They also realise that there are other times of the year where they could get similar, if not better deals.

Image sourced from Pixabay