UK retailers expect record sales weekend as shopping frenzy sets in
26 Nov 2016
Shoppers hunted for bargains both online and at stores on Black Friday, putting the retail industry on track for what it hoped would become a record sales weekend.
Shoppers were ready to open their wallets, thanks to the strength of the economy and rising stock market. Also major store chains played their part, offering attractive discounts on their traffic-building "doorbuster" opening specials.
Consequently, shopping centre operator JLL said 73 per cent of the 15 of its malls surveyed reported sales that were equal to or better than last year. Also online sales seemed to be more robust.
Black Friday online sales were expected to cross $3 billion for the first time ever, Adobe Digital Insights said, hitting $3.05 billion in online revenue, up 11.3 per cent over last year. With Thanksgiving Day sales added in, consumer online spending was expected to approach $5 Billion, an 11.4 per cent increase over 2015, Adobe said.
Sales generated from smartphones and other mobile devices alone would top $1 billion for the first time, according to Adobe. According to Walmart and Target, 60 per cent of their online orders came from mobile.
However there were some glitches due to heavy online browsing.
A number of online shoppers at Macy's.com got a message about a ''temporary shopping jam'' caused by heavier than normal traffic. They were directed to a page citing ''heavier traffic than normal,'' with a countdown clock telling shoppers when they could return to the main site.
They were asked to give the site 10 seconds and refresh their browser.
According to commentators that dealt a setback to a company trying to persuade customers and investors, it could handle more online traffic.
''We are still taking a high volume of online orders, and we are working quickly to alleviate the delay issue, which we hope to have resolved shortly,'' Holly Thomas, a spokeswoman for the largest US department-store chain, said in an e-mail.
