Cantillon: Big retail edgy about Black Friday

When headlines describe violence in supermarkets, humans morphing into wild animals, police being called to stores, and US retailer Walmart developing the nickname Brawl-mart, you know there’s a problem with Black Friday.

So far, there seem to have been no such incidents in Ireland, with the exception of a stampede in Asda in Belfast two years ago.

The major US shopping day only began to take hold in Ireland last year, but it has caught on. This year, shoppers in the Republic are expected to spend an estimated €109 million on the day.

With figures like that, you’d think retailers would be thrilled. Not so, it would seem. While many of the big names have been trumpeting huge sales tomorrow, they’re not pleased with having to dramatically cut prices in the run-up to the busiest trading season of the year, even for a day.

Retailers say they have noticed a drop off in demand over the last few weeks, as shoppers save up for Black Friday, and hold off on purchasing until the day.

Research by online marketing company Webloyalty backs this up. The research found Black Friday displaces retail sales rather than generating new ones. In 2014 on Black Friday, 59 per cent of shoppers surveyed said they either brought forward or delayed a purchase they would otherwise have made.

In the UK, some retailers have started to pull back. Asda, which is credited with introducing Black Friday to the country, is eschewing it this year after mayhem in some of its stores last year. The retailer is still offering discounts of £26 million through the festive period, but says it is “just as confident in our decision to step away from Black Friday as we were in introducing it to the UK”.

Jigsaw, which recently opened a store on Dublin’s South Anne Street, also said it won’t be taking part in Black Friday, albeit for a more sophisticated reason. The British retailer said its products will be “reduced by nothing because they stand for something. We do have black in our collection; that’s as far as we will go.”

Classy move, or a risky one? The tills will have the answer.