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UK consumers are preparing to spend an average of £234 at the tills and online during this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping periods, PwC’s latest survey reveals.
The £234 average projected spend for 2018 is exactly the same as 2017, suggesting demand has flattened out. Half of UK consumers also state they are not interested in the promotions, with 11% warning they would be purposely avoiding shopping altogether.
Alongside the 17% definitely intending to buy something while searching for a bargain over the weekend, a further 27% are open to persuasion if the deals are good enough, the analysis finds.
For those who are intending to buy, PWC found men are planning to spend £60 per head more than women on average. Meanwhile 25-34’s are the biggest spending age group, with a £278 planned spend per head, up by 17% compared with 2017. 18-24 year olds may be the most interested age group, but they have the lowest budgets and are the ones that have been the most squeezed this year, with their planned spend falling 20% to £181.
This year’s survey reveals a surge in interest in adult clothing, with double the number of consumers saying they will be looking for fashion bargains over Black Friday. It also found 40% of shoppers do buy on impulse over the period. There is still a significant amount of pre-planned purchase, with 42% sticking rigidly to a list, but 33% have a list and plan to browse too. Most impulsive are the 25-34’s and out of all shoppers they are most likely to buy in store.
Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC, said: “While our survey found that consumer interest in Black Friday has begun to plateau, it has still established itself an important and much anticipated shopping event for many people. As ‘practical gifting’ makes Christmas more virtuous, Black Friday becomes our one chance for fun and frivolous spending, and to treat ourselves and our families.
“For some product categories, Black Friday is set to become more important than Christmas; most notably electricals, but also fashion, toys and beauty. So those retailers that have announced that they will not be participating in any discounting over this period risk their customers walking, or clicking, straight past to their competitors.”
