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* Black Friday falls on Nov. 29
* Promotions now spread over several weeks
* Event's worth to retailers polarises opinion
By James Davey
LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - With harsh lessons learnt from
past Black Fridays, British retailers are stretching promotions
over several weeks, aiming to smooth out consumer demand and
reduce the pressure on supply and distribution networks.
Brought over from the United States by Amazon in
2010, the annual event started as a single day of discounting
before growing into a long weekend that took in 'Cyber Monday'.
It then grew to a week or so either side and is now getting
longer and longer, though after chaos and scuffles in stores in
2014 it is now predominantly an online affair.
“We’ve re-named Black Friday, November,” John Roberts, the
chief executive of AO World, the online electrical
appliances retailer, told Reuters.
With recent consumer spending subdued, Brexit still
unresolved and a looming national election creating new
uncertainties, retailers are in need of a tonic.
AO went live with Black Friday deals, such as a KitchenAid
Artisan Stand Mixer reduced from 449 pounds ($578) to 279
pounds, on Nov. 13 and some deals will run into December.
Dixons Carphone, Britain's biggest electricals and
mobile phones retailer, launched a first wave of promotions on
Nov. 13 on products such as laptops, TVs and vacuum cleaners,
and deals will run for a few days after Black Friday itself on
Nov. 29.
Amazon's Black Friday Sale runs for eight days from Nov. 22,
but it has been running early Black Friday deals this week.
Argos, owned by supermarket group Sainsbury's, and
department store group John Lewis both launched their
campaigns on Nov. 22.
LEARNING LESSONS
British retailers' early experiences of Black Friday, when
stores were overcrowded, websites crashed and delivery
operations were overloaded, showed the folly of concentrating a
huge amount of business on one day and then having a relatively
flat period afterwards.
“While this may ease the demand on logistics operations over
the period, it will mean that shoppers demand ever steeper
discounts during Black Friday as they expect something more from
retailers during this time," said Zoe Mills, retail analyst at
GlobalData, the data and analytics company.
It forecasts that UK shoppers' spending in the Black Friday
period would rise 2.2% year on year to 4.3 billion pounds.
Black Friday, the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday,
is so-called because it was historically the day when retailers
would move into profit after months in the red. It traditionally
marks the start of the U.S. holiday shopping season.
This year's sales drive, which is often make-or-break for
U.S. retailers, falls a week later than last year, leaving U.S.
retailers with a shorter holiday shopping period.
'BLACKVEMBER'
PwC, the advisory firm, reckons 52% of British consumers are
either interested in buying or plan to buy something during
Black Friday, with average spend forecast at 224 pounds. But it
says consumers are increasingly cynical about the event.
"Some consumers doubt the quality of the deals on offer,
with many seeing them as not especially good value or not worthy
of interest, and this is likely to have been exacerbated as
Black Friday deals have spread to the whole of 'Blackvember',"
said Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC.
Black Friday's popularity has meant Britain's Christmas
trading season now has three distinct peaks - around Black
Friday, the week up to Dec. 25 and the post-Christmas sales.
But nearly a decade after coming to Britain, the event's
worth to retailers still polarises opinion.
Supporters say carefully planned, targeted promotions in
close co-operation with global suppliers allow retailers to
achieve a sales boost while still maintaining profit margins.
Naysayers argue the discounts suck forward Christmas sales
at reduced profit margins, undermine consumers' willingness to
pay full price again before Christmas, and dampen business both
in prior and subsequent weeks.
Marks & Spencer has dabbled with Black Friday in the
past but has opted out since 2015. CEO Steve Rowe says his focus
is on improving M&S' value all year round.
“That’s the way to deliver great value for customers, not
one off promotions, so we won’t be taking part."
($1 = 0.7768 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Mark Potter)
