Plan B Forum

Black Friday Embrace by British Retailers Brings Discounts and Disorder



LONDON — Black Friday, virtually unknown here just a few years ago, has tightened its grip on British retailing, bringing with it scenes of disorder and chaos, at least two arrests and police criticism of the big stores that encourage shopper frenzy.

Officers were called out in several cities across Britain on Friday as thousands of shoppers stampeded into stores lured by large discounts.

A Tesco store in Stretford, near Manchester in northern England, was closed after fights broke out between shoppers, and a woman suffered minor injuries after being hit by a falling television. The police were also called to restore order at three Tesco stores in London, and there were reports of other incidents in cities including Cardiff, Wales.

But while some of Britain’s most exclusive stores have stood aloof, a growing number of retailers have imported the idea as a way to kick-start the Christmas spending spree on the fourth Friday of November. The innovation has paid off, prompting a one-day sales surge of around 10 percent for British retail sales, experts say.

Visa, the credit card association, predicted that on Friday in Britain about 360,000 pounds, or $568,000, would be spent every minute — or about £6,000 every second — using its cards. Visa also predicted a big upward spike in online sales, saying it expected to process 8.5 million British online transactions, which would be an increase of more than one-fifth over the same day a year ago.

But the new marketing push came at the cost of some disorder early in the day, particularly in and around Manchester, where the police made two arrests after being called to seven Tesco stores around midnight as the discount offers began.

The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Peter Fahy, described the problems as “totally predictable” and added that he was “disappointed that stores did not have sufficient security staff on duty.”

“This created situations where we had to deal with crushing, disorder and disputes between customers,” he said in a statement. “It does not help that this was in the early hours when police resources are already stretched.”

Tesco, one of Britain’s biggest retailers, said it had offered Black Friday price reductions of up to 70 percent in some of its larger stores for the first time this year, after testing online discounts successfully in 2013. Of around 600 stores that took part, only a small number experienced problems, said Felicity Callaghan, a spokeswoman for Tesco.

“Black Friday is gaining in awareness in the United Kingdom,” Ms. Callaghan said. “This is when Christmas shopping starts and our customers can get some great deals before Christmas.”

Amazon, the multinational online retailer, is often cited as having imported Black Friday into Britain in 2010 when it first offered reductions on the fourth Friday of November. But according to Joshua Bamfield, director of the Center for Retail Research, an independent organization in Nottingham that studies the sector, the retail chain Woolworths experimented with the Black Friday idea in Britain before it went out of business in 2009.

Mr. Bamfield said that Black Friday discount promotions had added around £100 million to overall physical and online sales of around £900 million on the fourth Friday of November in Britain last year and were expected to add £200 million this year, with more than a dozen big retailers thought to be taking part.

Kevin Jenkins, managing director responsible for the United Kingdom and Ireland at Visa Europe, said in a statement that Black Friday had become “the U.K.'s biggest online shopping day,” adding that “following a jump last year, retailers are making a bigger Friday push this time around.”

I'm quite sure the term "black friday" was coined to denote a day where many retailers move over into "the black" on their accounts for the year.

wesw wrote:thank goodness I can t see that (italics) image.