UK retailers optimistic about festive period, but cautious about Black Friday

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Nov 21, 2017

A new survey has revealed that just 33% of retailers are feeling confident about Black Friday this year, but retail businesses are generally optimistic about the prospects for the important festive season.

Indeed, over half of retailers are optimistic about their businesses’ prospects during this year’s Christmas period, according to a study commissioned by Royal Mail. 

“For many retailers and consumers, Black Friday now marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. Because of this it’s great to see the level of optimism from businesses, particularly retailers, about Black Friday and the festive period in general. If businesses are well prepared for Black Friday and Christmas, they can reap the benefits of a busy but fruitful festive season,” said Nick Landon, Managing Director of Royal Mail Parcels.

Black Friday, the annual shopping extravaganza that first started in the US, is set to become the UK’s biggest shopping day and retailers are preparing accordingly by starting their planning process earlier and earlier.

According to the report, 18% of those surveyed started preparations for this festive period as soon as the 2016 one was over, while 24% started to prepare for Christmas over the summer. Only 16% left their Christmas trading preparations for the autumn.

And despite the challenging conditions in the retail market and falling consumer confidence, Royal Mail described the mood as “buoyant”, with 34% of retailers expecting this year’s Christmas to be busier than in 2016. This is compared to just 13% of retailers who expect to be less busy than last year over the upcoming festive period.