Brits return to High Street for Black Friday bargains, online spending down
November’s retail sales results show a 0.2% rise in the amount of goods Brits purchased but, surprisingly, online spending tumbled by 4.3%, says the home delivery expert Parcelhero.
The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) retail sales figures for the period 27 October to 23 November 2024 show a mixed bag of results for Britain’s retailers, says the home delivery expert Parcelhero.
There was an overall 0.2% rise in the amount of goods Brits bought and combined High Street and online sales rose 0.3% in value (the amount of money we all spent). However, online sales values actually tumbled by 4.3% compared to the previous month. Parcelhero says that’s a surprising result, considering the fact that online Black Friday offers seemed to launch right at the beginning of November.
Parcelhero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., says: ‘Frustratingly, these latest ONS retail sales estimates only cover the four-week period up to 23 November, so they don’t include Black Friday’s results. However, what we can see is that shoppers voted with their feet through most of November. Juicy High Street offers meant, for example, household goods stores enjoyed a 1.1% uptick in sales volumes.
‘However, the long Black Friday sales period largely failed to tempt Brits to splash out online in the protracted lead-up to Black Friday itself. Despite an uptick in sales volumes of 0.1% for non-store retailers – the category mostly consisting of online sellers – the hefty 4.3% fall in “online spending values”, the amount we all actually spent online, was an unwelcome surprise.
‘As a result, the proportion of sales made online, as a slice of the overall retail spending cake, decreased from 27.5% in October to 26.2% in November, its lowest level since February.
‘However, the good news is that the ONS notes some retailers reported that Black Friday sales started well in advance of the official day. We still expect to see that the next retail results including the Black Friday/Cyber Monday long weekend will prove robust for both High Street and online sellers. We’ll get the full picture from December’s ONS figures, which will be released in January.
‘Meanwhile, the Christmas shopping peak is almost over. However, for those of us who have left everything until the last minute and beyond, the good news is that a few online retailers are taking orders as late as 24 December in time for Christmas. Amazon, Argos and a number of other stores are taking Same-Day orders on Christmas Eve…for a price!
Many other retailers, including H. Samuels, are still offering Next-Day orders on 23 December. To find out who is still delivering, check Parcelhero’s retailers’ final order tool: https://www.parcelhero.com/
