Black Friday hits independent retailers hard
Posted on in Business News
Vend, the leading management platform, provides data that suggests that independent retailers across the UK were hit the hardest by the discounts during the Black Friday period.
Toy stores across the UK were let down by the Black Friday period increasing discounts by 102% but only seeing an 11% spending increase against previous weeks.
Although, in-store spending for independent fashion retailers was 55% higher than an average week, the discount rate increased by 480%.
In-store retail spending across the Black Friday period this year has dropped by 13% compared to the 2017 figures.
Vends' data and insight into Black Friday found that while Black Friday provides a significant increase for retail, the competing pressure to offer discounts counterbalances this. Health and beauty retailers increased their discounts by 566% while fashion and apparel stores increased their by 480%. There is this constant competition brewing between sectors in retail and more and more the extent of increased discounts are proving to be an uncertainty.
Smaller independent retailers have been dropping prices to capture footfall over the Black Friday weekend and this may not be beneficial to the stores trying to compete on price. Larger brands and retailers can take the risk to push prices lower over the largest trading period of the year. Black Friday may have even become the biggest trading period of the year for major retailers but this doesn't translate to smaller businesses.
