Black Friday arrives in the UK: Doomed marketing gimmick or retail revolution?

Black Friday: Asda leading the charge in the UK

Black Friday has landed in earnest in the UK with Walmart-owned Asda spearheading the charge, but will it lead to the mania it has created in the US?

A thread on Reddit has horror stories of grannies punching teenage boys and staff being sacked for warning old ladies of the dangers of coming into the store on Black Friday.
It is hard to imagine such tales being emulated in the UK, but this could be proved otherwise as retailers attempt to whip up the usually placid Brits into a frenzy.
Asda is running a marketing campaign for its Black Friday event that it claims offers "earth-shattering savings" and will see one in three shoppers take part in the event.
"Given these never-been-seen-before deals, we’re anticipating tomorrow to be the busiest shopping day of the year so far, so we would encourage customers to head to store quickly to avoid disappointment, because once stock is gone - it’s gone," claimed Andrew Moore, Asda’s chief merchandising officer for George and general merchandise.
Meanwhile, John Lewis, Amazon and Very.co.uk are among the other retailers looking to boost sales with deals, or price-matching, this Friday.

Thanksgiving in Europe

Black Friday has significance in the US because it always happens the day after Thanksgiving, but in the UK it could prove harder for retailers to shoe-horn it into the UK shopper’s psyche.
"Black Friday in Europe is a retailer-driven marketing gimmick," said Forrester online retail analyst Martin Gill. "Thanksgiving doesn't exist in Europe, so ultimately it's an arbitrary date in the calendar that some European retailers are starting to try and leverage to kick-start Christmas sales."
Despite its arbitrary date, analysts are not ruling out the possibility that Black Friday may gain traction in the UK, especially with the clout of a big retailer like Asda behind it.
"Although it might take several years to really gain momentum, as it did for Halloween to become a major retail event in the UK, Asda’s Black Friday innovation is likely to see the day [become a] high point in fourth-quarter trading," said Bryan Roberts, Insights Director, Kantar Retail comments.
The rapidly increasing influence of the internet on the retail environment means the US’ long-standing Black Friday tradition is likely to translate easier to the UK than it would have in the past.
"The internet has flattened the world and with many US retailers now shipping to Europe from their US websites, it's inevitable that European shoppers begin to work out that they can grab some pre-Christmas bargains," said Gill.
raj kishore sharma
pgdm 1st sem