UK consumers alone set to spend £2.83m every minute over Black Friday weekend
VoucherCodes.co.uk has released its Shopping for Christmas 2020 report, carried out by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR), shows that despite lockdown 2.0, UK consumers are set to spend a total of £7.504bn over the Black Friday weekend – a 12.4% drop on 2019 due to store closures.
Key findings include:
- Online sales expected to rise from £3.7bn in 2019 to £5.7bn over Black Friday weekend
- Londoners are the big spenders, spending a total of £1,312m, over six times more than those in Northern Ireland (£215m)
- Northern Ireland is the only region where consumers are forecasted to spend more offline (£112m) than online (£103m)
- The Scots lead the charge with spending the most offline, totalling £362m in comparison to their online spending £335m
Nearly £3m is set to be spent every minute over Black Friday weekend, according to this new report.1
The VoucherCodes.co.uk Shopping for Christmas 2020 report, carried out by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR), shows that despite lockdown 2.0, UK consumers are set to spend a total of £7.504bn over the Black Friday weekend – a 12.4% drop on 2019 due to store closures.
Despite the decline, online sales are forecast to increase almost £2bn across Black Friday weekend, with total online sales rising 52.9% from £3.771bn (2019) to £5.764bn this year.
Online spending is predicted to peak on Black Friday itself when £1.34m will be spent every minute. Offline spending will hit its highest amount at £0.96m every minute on Cyber Monday, resulting in a total of 1.740bn.
Online vs offline spending (millions)
| Online/offline | 2019 results | 2020 forecast | % Change | ||||||
| Friday | Sat/ Sun | Monday | 2019 totals | Friday | Sat/ Sun | Monday | 2020 totals | 2019-20 change | |
| Online | £1,141 | £1,105 | £1,525 | £3,771 | £1,925 | £1,928 | £1,911 | £5,764 | 52.9% |
| Offline | £1,386 | £1,895 | £1,514 | £4,795 | £458 | £678 | £604 | £1,740 | -63.7% |
| Total | £2,527 | £3,000 | £3,039 | £8,566 | £2,383 | £2,606 | £2,515 | £7,504 | -12.4% |
London is expected to lead the charge with online sales
Prior to lockdown 2.0, the report found that over a third (37.3%) of UK respondents said they would not shop in-store during Black Friday promotions. This suggests that physical stores would have still seen a shortfall in sales due to lack of consumer confidence regardless of lockdown measures.
Due to the imposed restrictions in the UK, this research anticipates that offline sales over Black Friday weekend will fall by a staggering 63.7% compared to 2019, from £4.795bn to £1.740bn.
London is expected to lead the charge with online sales and will also have the biggest share of total spend (£1.312bn) within the UK across the weekend. If areas in Scotland remain out of tier four lockdown by the end of November, Scots are set to spend the most offline, totalling to £362.1m.
Regional Black Friday weekend spending in 2020 breakdown (millions)
| Region | Offline | Online | Totals |
| London | £196.50 | £1,115.20 | £1,311.70 |
| South East | £191.00 | £946.90 | £1,137.90 |
| East of England | £122.70 | £587.10 | £709.80 |
| North West | £131.60 | £571.20 | £702.80 |
| Scotland | £362.10 | £334.70 | £696.80 |
| South West | £106.40 | £499.30 | £605.70 |
| West Midlands | £103.70 | £458.60 | £562.30 |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | £94.90 | £412.50 | £507.40 |
| East Midlands | £86.00 | £374.40 | £460.40 |
| Wales | £187.70 | £168.80 | £356.50 |
| North East | £45.50 | £192.60 | £238.10 |
| Northern Ireland | £111.80 | £102.80 | £214.60 |
| Totals | £1,739.9 | £5,764.1 | £7,504.0 |
Anita Naik, the Lifestyle Editor at VoucherCodes.co.uk, commented: “The new lockdown measures have certainly shaken the bricks-and-mortar retail sector for a second time this year, and Black Friday will no doubt be a huge missed opportunity for many stores across the UK.
“However, as we know, over the past few years there has been a rapid shift to online shopping and this Black Friday weekend there will be plenty of deals to be found online despite lockdown 2.0. This year we expect to see sales soar across the online retail sector, and this will continue to grow in the run up to Christmas too.
“With so many discounts over the Black Friday weekend, it can be hard to know if you’re definitely getting the best deal for your money. There are tools which can help such as setting up alerts for things you want to buy or using DealFinder by VoucherCodes. The clever browser extension does all the hard work for you and ensures you never miss a deal again.”
Top Tips for Black Friday
While the weekend itself will be popular among shoppers, most retailers will continue their sales within the ‘Black Friday fortnight’.2 During this time, sales are expected to hit a total of £23.090bn. Online total spend is forecast to more than double offline sales £15.480bn and £7.610bn respectively.
Broke Girl in the City says, ‘While many people will be spending this Black Friday weekend, it is important to remember not to spend money you don’t have.”