Black Friday looks set to be a fixture of the UK retail calendar following Amazon and Asda’s US led success with the trend in previous years.

Every picture tells a story. And the images of Asda stores this time last year, rammed with shoppers scrambling to secure Black Friday deals, illustrated to the rest of the industry the potency of this retail event.

Many had been sceptical that a promotional day, borrowed from the US and developed there to lure shoppers back to stores after Thanksgiving, could be replicated in the UK.

But where Asda and Amazon have led – and both of course have strong US influences in their makeup – the rest of the industry has followed.

From Tesco to Hobbs, retailers have leapt on the bandwagon with varying degrees of creativity and gusto.

In an age when consumers are increasingly Sale-fatigued and trained to shop on promotion all year round, the importance of event-based retailing to create excitement is increasingly central to the annual consumer cycle.

Black Friday remains in its infancy. And consumers, unsurprisingly, seem yet to fully grasp the concept. A study by Retail Week and Microsoft showed only 31% intend to do Christmas shopping this weekend.

Retail strategies also vary wildly, from clearing unwanted stock to bringing unusual product such as Asda’s £3,500 quad bikes to the market.

A recent survey by Barclays suggests that almost two thirds of retailers are gearing up to run Sales on Friday, while Mintel predicts the event will be twice the size of last year’s.

But despite that, many retail chiefs in private admit to unease at the way Black Friday is so quickly reshaping the Christmas trading period, potentially eroding margins in the process and further training consumers to shy away from ever buying at full price.

There is scepticism too that it can generate incremental gains for the industry, rather than merely shifting spend to big-ticket electricals and sucking sales from elsewhere in November and December.

Yet clearly this is an event that is here to stay, and the industry needs to understand the opportunities it offers.

The full impact on sales will only become apparent in January, but the prospect of capturing shoppers’ spend early cannot be ignored.

  • Chris Brook-Carter, Editor-in-chief