Spending on Black Friday was up just 2.3% year-on-year across the retail sector, according to the latest figures from Mastercard’s Spending Pulse data.
The pace of growth this Black Friday was notably behind previous years. Sales grew 9% on the discounting day in 2015 and 17.5% in 2014.
In electronics, sales plunged 10.7% compared with last Black Friday. Clothing sales also fell, down 5.6% on 2015. This is compared with a 9.5% grow last year and a 46.4% jump in 2014.
This trend is mirrored across all sectors as UK consumers’ enthusiasm for Black Friday seems to have dampened, according to Mastercard.
However, some sectors did benefit. Department stores sales increased 4.3% year on year. Online was also a star performer, with sales surging 23.3% on last Black Friday.
Plateauing impact
Mark Barnett, president, UK & Ireland at Mastercard, said: “Overall, retailers will be pleased with the results from Black Friday, with year-on-year growth ahead of inflation.
“However, the impact of the day is certainly plateauing as growth has slowed significantly compared to previous years.
“We are unlikely to see the Black Friday bonanzas of the last two years again as nearly all sectors experienced lacklustre sales growth.”
Barnett said spending was relatively weak in the first half of November as consumers put off spending in anticipation of Black Friday deals.
However, he said the discounting extravaganza only serves to pull forward Christmas spending.
“Looking at the past three years, our data shows that Black Friday has only led to a redistribution of festive season spending, rather than generating genuine new demand.”
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