Thanks to post-Brexit currency fluctuations impacting retailer profits and a reduced consumer appetite for promotions, experts have said that we can expect to see some big changes to Black Friday next year.
According to the Huffington Post, retail analysts are anticipating that next year retailers will stop offering show-stopping deals on big brands and will start discounting lower quality products that will bring a higher guarantee of profit. It’s possible that smaller retailers could drop their Black Friday promotions altogether.
Data gathered by Retail Economics suggests that even this year retailers are severely overestimating how much consumers are planning to spend in the Black Friday sales. While 90% of retailers are expecting consumers to spend more or the same amount as last year in the sales, 74% of consumers have actually said they’re planning to spend less.
Down on discounts
Of course, one explanation for such a high number of people expecting to spend less could be that they just don’t anticipate the impulse purchasing that we all fall victim to year after year thanks to timed and enticing promotions like Amazon’s Lightning deals
That said, of the 2,000 people Retail Economics surveyed, only 21% planned to participate in the sales at all, suggesting consumers might be growing weary of the annual retail frenzy after all.
It’s suspected that this is in part due to uncertainty around the currency at the moment. Electronics are one of the most popular categories for consumers on Black Friday, but as many electronics goods are traded in dollars the poor exchange rate means that prices are rising.
Already we’ve seen big brands such as HP, Dell, and Apple hike their prices in response to the changing markets and this is more than enough to make retailers and consumers wary.
If as few consumers participate in Black Friday this year as Retail Economics’ data suggests, backing out of big Black Friday promotions next year would be a natural and perhaps sensible response for many retailers.
Sourse: techradar.com