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‘Black Friday’ Backfires on the British Markets | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Black Friday. Reuters


London – The British stores held high expectations after adopting the U.S. “Black Friday” tradition, however, the dream of ideal profits and crazy sales rates had swiftly vanished as costumers did not respond to the market’s new offer and left the owners of big stores deeply disappointed.

The markets didn’t witness the expected loads of crowds despite the massive discounts which only attracted a shy number of shoppers who were aligned outside the stores, according to local media outlets.

Stores in London opened their doors at five o’clock in the morning to welcome shoppers, however only few people who stood in modest rows attended, which turned this day into a “black day” – literally. However, the biggest beneficiaries of this exceptional shopping day were the online shopping websites, where sales exceeded GBP1.5 billion; e-shopping was considered a smart step took by shoppers who became aware of the policies practiced by stores.

This year’s figures shed lights on the growing attraction toward e-shopping and its very bad impact on the crisis of “empty stores”, threatening the major markets in Britain, which are still suffering from the last economic debacle in 2007.

e-Shopping websites

The e-shopping websites have won the biggest share of turnovers and acquired 40% of the total sales rates. Shoppers in the British stores have dropped by 7% compared to last year. As per sales, more than 51% went to smartphones while five e-shopping websites including e-Bay have witnessed remarkable activity.

Shopping websites were not the only winners on this day, some delivery companies have also achieved remarkable gains given that Hermes Parcelnet Ltd, one of the biggest delivery companies in Britain, was expected to deliver 750,000 parcel on one day to consumers.

According to experts, consumers are expected to refund five million parcels representing 27% of the sold items through e-shopping websites especially that refund and exchange policies in Britain have been so flexible.

It is worth noting that sales rates of “John Lewis” stores scored massive sales between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm, with one registered order every five seconds.