For millions of people across the globe, Black Friday makes for a great opportunity to start off with some serious Christmas shopping. Traditionally, celebrated as the first Friday after thanksgiving, it has become one of the major shopping days of the year in the United Kingdom. This year, Black Friday is falling on the 29th of November.
Here, let’s have a look at some interesting facts about Black Friday-
- The term Black Friday was coined in 1960, in the city of Philadelphia, US.
- The day was called Black Friday because it marked the beginning of the shopping season, and helped the retailers move from “Red” to “Black”. Red ink indicates loss and black indicates profit.
- Black Friday was already popular in the US as the first Friday after thanksgiving. However, it was in the year 2013 that ASDA (US Company) thought of bringing the concept to the UK to push the then sluggish British retail segment. Surprisingly, Britishers welcomed the initiative and stormed ASDA stores across the country.
- Owing to Black Friday, retailers witness a 15% increase in their sales, as compared to normal business days.
- In 2017, UK witnessed the highest ever online sales of £1.49B on Black Friday.
- 194 Million People browsed the sites of online retailers on Black Friday. Setting a new high.
- Surprisingly, while the revenue graph went up in 2018 as compared to 2017 on Black Friday, the footfall reduced by 5.5 percent.
- The UK seems to be a fan of general electronics. With amazon and John Lewis reporting consumer electronics such as air pods, headphones echo-dot and google home mini speakers as their highest selling products.
- Amazon dominated the UK retail industry on Black Friday with a 26% market share.
