No ‘Black Friday’ bounce for stores

Woman shopping in Asda

SCOTTISH stores were unable to capitalise on the consumer frenzy around so-called ‘Black Friday’, with November 24 leaving online retailers with a smile on their face but hardly anyone else.

The latest figures from the Scottish Retail Consortium, produced by KPMG, show Black Friday was not enough to boost November sales figures in Scotland, with sales decreasing 1.3% on a like-for-like basis compared with November 2016 when they had declined by 1.5%.

SRC figures found that while total sales in Scotland declined by 0.6% on the previous year, total food sales for November increased by 4.2% as food price inflation continues. Total non-food sales were down 4.4% on the previous year, although when adjusted for the estimated effect of online sales this figure reduces to a decline of 2.6%.

Ewan MacDonald-Russell commented on the findings: “As expected, Black Friday sales were concentrated online, with footfall figures not especially higher for the week.

“Nonetheless there were a number of very strong categories this month, with electrical goods, in particular home automation items, performing strongly. Food sales continue to outperform 2016, albeit the uplift continues to be primarily driven by food price inflation, which our shop price index recorded at 1.5%.”