{"id":2065,"date":"2020-12-17T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/escp.eu\/thechoice\/?p=2065"},"modified":"2021-02-01T21:47:36","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T21:47:36","slug":"black-friday-retail-heaven-or-supply-chain-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/escp.eu\/thechoice\/tomorrow-choices\/black-friday-retail-heaven-or-supply-chain-surge\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Friday: Retail Heaven or Supply Chain Surge?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Black Friday, a day now synonymous with huge discounts on the Friday following American Thanksgiving, was first coined as we know it in the 1950s\/60s by the Philadelphia police force who dreaded the traffic jams and crowding caused by shoppers flooding local high streets and malls. Since, \u2018Black Friday\u2019 is more generically regarded as a surge in consumer spending, enticed by big discounts, enough to put retailers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.co.uk\/entry\/black-friday-history-why-is-it-called-black-friday_l_5d951322e4b02911e1154386\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u2018in the black\u2019<\/a> for the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Black Friday has not only become a global phenomenon but has come to span the entire weekend, ending with Cyber Monday. It is clear to see why retailers participate, as shoppers spent \u00a32.5 billion on Black Friday alone last year. <strong>In the United Kingdom, spending was forecast to increase by <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailtimes.co.uk\/shoppers-enthusiasm-for-black-friday-weakens-in-lockdown-2-with-expected-spending-decline-of-1-6bn-pwc-reports\/#:~:text=Before%20lockdowns%20were%20announced%20in,%C2%A36.2bn%20this%20year.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>8%<\/strong><\/a><strong> this year; however, the global pandemic and a UK lockdown resulted in Black Friday enthusiasm reducing by <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.retail-week.com\/tech\/black-friday-bargains-snapped-up-early-but-will-shops-see-a-last-minute-rush\/7036357.article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>16.7%<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong> This is largely due to two-thirds of transactions historically originating from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2020\/nov\/27\/big-fall-in-black-friday-uk-retail-sales-despite-online-spending-boom\">in-store sales<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The image etched into many minds from 2014 showing customers clawing and clambering over each other to grab a large screen TV during one of Asda\u2019s Black Friday store campaigns was replaced by an almost silent High Street and a surge in online expenditure. <strong>However, despite lost revenue from in-store shopping, online sales hit record highs.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Black Friday Online: Issues of Profitability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With the pressure to convert the spike in consumer demand that Black Friday brings into actual revenue, retailers had to focus on driving e-commerce with further incentivisation for online spending. <strong>This year\u2019s Black Friday saw many retailers offering more generous discounts spread throughout November, enabling shoppers to take advantage of prolonged bargains.<\/strong> John Lewis ran its Black Friday sale from November 20<sup>th<\/sup> to 30<sup>th<\/sup>, where they reached <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retail-week.com\/tech\/black-friday-bargains-snapped-up-early-but-will-shops-see-a-last-minute-rush\/7036357.article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cnew record demand\u201d<\/a> with 3.5m products shipped during the sale. Cult Beauty\u2019s chief executive and co-founder Alexia Inge says its promotions were \u201cextremely well-received this year,\u201d with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retail-week.com\/tech\/black-friday-bargains-snapped-up-early-but-will-shops-see-a-last-minute-rush\/7036357.article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">units sold 38% higher than Cult Beauty\u2019s previous record.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><mark>However, the shift in channels from store to online brings with it challenges on profitability.<\/mark> Online fulfilment is typically more expensive than store fulfilment, meaning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retail-week.com\/tech\/counting-the-cost\/7036294.article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">every customer who simply switches channels erodes retailer profits<\/a>. This begs the question of the true benefit that the consumer is getting in Black Friday deals. If online is eroding retailers\u2019 profits, can they really be offering record discounts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.which.co.uk\/news\/2020\/11\/85-of-black-friday-products-arent-the-cheapest-theyve-ever-been\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Which?<\/em><\/a> found that <strong>98% of discounts investigated were available for the same price or cheaper in the six months after the sales,<\/strong> whilst 85% of product was the same price or cheaper in the six months before Black Friday. Consumers should be wary of the \u2018was\u2019 price and check items in your basket across multiple sites. At John Lewis, a De\u2019Longhi coffee machine was offered at \u00a3399 on Black Friday 2019, but it was then discounted to \u00a3368 on at least 35 occasions in the following six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The increasing trend to offer discounts throughout November, as opposed to just a day or a weekend, softens the supply chain implications caused by Black Friday demand peaks.<\/strong> Reducing the pressure on supply chains limits the number of temporary staff hires retailers need to make to service the spike in orders. Due to the limitations of store closures, many retailers offered free home delivery and Click &amp; Collect this year during Black Friday in a bid to retain historic sales volumes. The result eats away at profit margins for companies, whilst also placing pressure on carriers who reached unprecedented demand for home delivery.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Future of Black Friday<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Whilst the pressure to offer free and fast delivery is eating into margins,<mark> any retailer that believes they can simply ride out the coronavirus storm and recoup their losses once sales revert to stores should think again.<\/mark> Although experts agree that online sales are unlikely to remain at the levels seen during lockdown, <strong>the latest Office for National Statistics data for August shows them falling back to 28.1% of total retail sales.<\/strong> Most also believe that they will never return to pre-Covid levels. In this context, the ability for businesses to trade profitably will be fundamental to their future viability. Retailer Next claimed two years ago that if all the sales lost in retail were transferred to sales of Next\u2019s UK online business, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retail-week.com\/tech\/counting-the-cost\/7036294.article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">it would lose 7p for every pound transferred, totaling a cost of around \u00a38m.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>To recoup some profits eroded by online fulfillment, retailers must either move away from mass discounting and free delivery, by leaning into the growing trend of the conscious consumer and \u2018Green Friday,\u2019 or capitalise on data. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>China\u2019s version of Black Friday, named <strong>\u2018Singles Day,\u2019<\/strong> demonstrates how retailers and e-commerce giants exchange big discounts in exchange for increased data and visibility on their customer. Chinese companies are using gamification to entice customers to engage further with their brand, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/uk\/news\/chinas-answer-to-black-friday-is-rapidly-turning-into-an-online-las-vegas#:~:text=Singles%20Day%202020%2C%20China's%20answer,within%20in%2Dapp%20mini%20games.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alibaba distributed 2 billion Yuan (\u00a3230m million) through virtual games to shoppers this year.<\/a> The games encourage users to give personal data and connect with friends and family to unlock discounts. What is more is the retailers track the whole purchase journey of the consumer through the game. The event has quickly become the world\u2019s biggest 24-hour shopping event, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-54876524\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1.9bn products delivered last year.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Green Friday, the antithesis to Black Friday, has been a growing movement over the past few years. The day, and offers, take<strong> <\/strong>place over the same period as Black Friday. <strong>Green Friday taps into the rise of the \u2018conscious consumer\u2019 focusing on encouraging socially and environmentally responsible spending, <\/strong>moving away from the mass discounting that typically leads to careless spending, eroding profit margins, and increase in carbon emissions. A growing number of companies are partaking in Green Friday. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/fashionunited.com\/news\/retail\/baukjen-and-isabella-oliver-to-give-back-this-black-friday\/2020111736561\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Baukjen<\/a> donated 100% of profits from sales on Black Friday to charity Centrepoint, which focuses on youth homelessness, an issue worsened during the pandemic. Jewelry brand <a href=\"https:\/\/uk.missoma.com\/pages\/treesisters?currency=EUR,GBP&amp;country=FR&amp;redirected=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Missoma<\/a> partnered with the charity TreeSisters, committing to plant over 100,000 trees from sales over Black Friday. Partnering with Woodland Trust, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.woodlandtrust.org.uk\/partnerships\/our-partners\/sofology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sofology<\/a> will plant 100 trees for every sofa booked into their Sofa Rescue Program and one tree for every order that was placed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no doubt that the growth of Black Friday has both its merits and downfalls for retailers and consumers alike. As we navigate Black Friday under the \u2018new normal\u2019 in a Covid-19 world, the demand for online fulfillment has grown exponentially resulting in challenges for supply chains and profitability of retailers. <strong>The future of Black Friday will continue to evolve as retailers battle to meet online demand and please customers, all whilst making profit. <\/strong>Alternative Black Fridays that have come to fruition, Singles Day and Green Friday, are set to grow as they provide incentives and offerings that drive benefit for not only the customer but the retailer too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">So Black Friday will remain \u2026 just not as we know it<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-white-background-color has-white-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>BearingPoint is a partner of ESCP&#8217;s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/escp.eu\/faculty-research\/chairs-and-professorships\/retailing-40-chair\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Retailing 4.0 Chair<\/a>, which aims to foster forward-looking in-depth reflection on the business and retail industry of tomorrow.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thank you to BearingPoint Senior Business Analyst Alyssa Opzoomer for her contribution to this article.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Feature photo by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@rupixen?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rupixen.com<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can you imagine the future of Black Friday after Covid-19? For The Choice, BearingPoint UK Partner, Stuart Higgins looks at how retailers can meet online demand while making a profit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-2065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tomorrow-choices","tag-retail","category-14","description-off"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Black Friday: Retail Heaven or Supply Chain Surge? - The Choice by ESCP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The future of Black Friday after Covid-19: BearingPoint&#039;s Stuart Higgins looks at how retailers can meet online demand while making a profit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/escp.eu\/thechoice\/tomorrow-choices\/black-friday-retail-heaven-or-supply-chain-surge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black Friday: Retail Heaven or Supply Chain Surge? 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