Stay ahead of the curve and future-proof your business with Mintel’s UK Black Friday Market Report 2024. Our full report is packed with consumer-led market intelligence, the latest Black Friday market research, trends and consumer behaviours affecting your business. Get a 360° view of the Black Friday market including market size, share and forecasted growth to help you align your business strategy with the needs of your audience.
Below, we’ve handpicked the key insights analysed in the full report and summarised the core topics.
Topics Analysed in this Report
- Market size and analysis of Black Friday in the UK spending in 2023.
- Overall Black Friday engagement and products purchased during promotions in 2023.
- How products were purchased and from which retailers during Black Friday 2023.
- Impact of the cost of living crisis on Black Friday in the UK behaviours.
- Attitudes towards overconsumption, eco-friendly Black Friday initiatives and trust in promotions
- Competitive strategies used during Black Friday in the UK.
Black Friday Sales in the UK – 2023 Sales Total
Total sales during Black Friday 2023 reached an estimated £13.3 billion, up 7.3% year-on-year.
Black Friday in the UK: 2023 Overview
The cost of living crisis gave a significant boost to Black Friday 2023, with over half of Black Friday shoppers saying financial concerns meant they relied on promotions more than usual. Lower-income households are naturally drawn to Black Friday, but in 2023 it was a greater number of higher-income households buying into the event.
- Black Friday market research: 52% of Black Friday shoppers saying financial concerns meant they relied on promotions more than usual.
Black Friday Market Research Trends, Challenges and Opportunities
Foster discovery for new brands
To encourage future engagement with Black Friday, the event needs to help foster the discovery of new brands and retailers. This focus can help retailers challenge the perception that promotions just include the same set of regularly discounted products.
- Black Friday in the UK trends: 84% of consumers agree that a positive experience with a retailer during Black Friday would encourage them to shop there again.
Growth of the in-store Black Friday sales
While Black Friday remains an online-first retail event, in-store Black Friday purchasing grew in 2023. Brands have an opportunity to gain a further share of Black Friday demand by leveraging the USP of physical space to create an ‘event’ feeling of coming into a store during the promotions.
- Black Friday in the UK statistics: 44% of consumers purchased a Black Friday deal in-store.
Purchase our UK Black Friday Market Report to receive a consumer behaviour and trends analysis, and recommendations for market opportunities. Readers of this report may also be interested in our UK Christmas Gift Buying Market Report, or our range of Retail Market Research.
Brands Featured in the Full Report
Amazon, Currys, Argos, Clarks, Apricot, Sports Direct, The Body Shop, H.Samuel, Charlotte Tilbury, eBay, ASOS, Boots, Etsy.
Expert Insights from a Retail Analyst
This report, written by Emily Viberg, a leading research analyst, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight Black Friday market research and add expert context to the numbers.
Black Friday 2023 saw record shopper numbers in a value-centric market. However longer-term retailers need to focus on addressing shoppers eco-anxiety and discounting fatigue.
Emily Viberg
Retail analyst
Collapse All
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- Key issues covered in this Report
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Executive Summary
- Opportunities for Black Friday
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Graph 1: “Are you expecting to do any of the following as a result of rising prices? Please select all that apply.”, 2023
- Graph 2: year-on-year percentage change in all retail sales, excluding VAT, non-seasonally adjusted value and volume, Oct-Dec 2023
- What consumers want and why
- Graph 3: Black Friday purchasing, 2021-23
- Graph 4: Black Friday purchasing by channel, 2021-23
- Graph 5: Black Friday purchasing, 2022-23
- Graph 6: type of retailer shopped with during Black Friday, 2021-23
- Graph 7: eco-friendly Black Friday shopping behaviours, 2023
- Retailer activity
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Market Dynamics
- Market size
- Graph 8: estimated market size for Black Friday, 2019-23
- Graph 9: year-on-year percentage change in all retail sales, excluding VAT, non-seasonally adjusted value and volume, Oct-Dec, 2021-2023
- Graph 10: retail sales (ex. fuel) in October-December as a percentage of total retail sales in the final quarter, 2019-23
- Graph 11: percentage change year-on-year in total online retail sales, excluding VAT, 2021-23
- Graph 12: share of online sales, by type of retail operation, 2020-23
- Macro-economic factors
- Graph 13: CPI inflation rate, 2021-23
- Graph 14: “Are you expecting to do any of the following as a result of rising prices? Please select all that apply.”, 2023
- Graph 15: the financial wellbeing index, 2016-23
- Graph 16: the financial confidence index, 2016-23
- Graph 17: when Christmas gift buying started, 2020-23
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What Consumers Want and Why
- Black Friday 2023 participation
- Graph 18: Black Friday purchasing, 2021-23
- Graph 19: Black Friday purchasing by channel, 2021-23
- Graph 20: Black Friday participation, by age, 2023
- Graph 21: Black Friday participation, by age, 2022
- Graph 22: Black Friday participation, by household income, 2022
- Graph 23: Black Friday participation, by household income, 2023
- Products purchased during Black Friday 2023
- Graph 24: Black Friday purchasing, 2022-23
- Graph 25: Black Friday purchasing, 2022
- Graph 26: percentage of shoppers buying electrical goods for Black Friday in-store or online, 2023
- Graph 27: repertoire of how many items they bought online for Black Friday, 2022-2023
- Graph 28: repertoire of how many items they bought in-store for Black Friday, 2022-2023
- Where they shopped during Black Friday 2023
- Graph 29: type of retailer shopped with during Black Friday, 2021-23
- Graph 30: where they shopped for Black Friday products, 2022-23
- Graph 31: demographic breakdown of the percentage of shoppers who bought products at Temu and Shein during Black Friday, 2023
- Planned and Christmas spending during Black Friday
- Graph 32: Black Friday planned and Christmas spending behaviours, 2023
- Graph 33: planned and christmas gifts purchasing during Black Friday, by age, 2023
- Graph 34: percentage of shoppers who pre-planned Black Friday purchases and bought Christmas gifts during Black Friday, by household income, 2023
- Black Friday 2023 shopping behaviours
- Graph 35: savvy Black Friday shopping behaviours, 2023
- Graph 36: “Black Friday allowed me to buy from retailers I usually can’t afford”, by age, 2023
- Graph 37: “I used online tools to search for the best Black Friday promotions”, by gender, 2023
- Graph 38: Black Friday retailer shopping behaviours, 2023
- Graph 39: percentage of consumers who think retailers can do more to make shopping during Black Friday fun and stay away from untrustworthy retailer, 2023
- Attitudes to overconsumption and eco-friendly Black Friday initiatives
- Graph 40: eco-friendly Black Friday shopping behaviours, 2023
- Graph 41: “The overconsumption during Black Friday makes me conscious about the negative environmental impact”, by gender, 2023
- Graph 42: “I traded in/donated products in return for a further Black Friday discount”, by age, 2023
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Retailer Activity
- Black Friday: competitive strategies
- Advertising and marketing activity
- Graph 43: total recorded above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising spend by retailers in November, 2019-23
- Graph 44: leading retailers’ spending on recorded above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising in November, 2023
- Graph 45: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising from all retailers in November, 2023
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Appendix
- Report scope and definitions
- Methodology
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