Black Friday weekend, which commences today (24 November) presents a challenge for many retailers who have been struggling in recent times in an intensely competitive market, Retail Ireland has said.
“While Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are good news for shoppers they do present a challenge for Irish retailers. Total sales in December 2016 fell by 1.2 per cent when compared with the previous month." Thomas Burke, director, Retail Ireland said.
"This fall in sales, in what should be the busiest month of the year for retailers, highlights that an increasing proportion of Irish consumers are now making a significant number of their Christmas purchases in November in order to take advantage of the deep discounts available in this promotional period."
Burke said that the question retailers are now asking is whether or not such shopping events are merely displacing consumer spend and reducing margins over the crucial Christmas shopping period."
Retailers Prepare Online Platforms
The Ibec group that represents the retail sector, outlined that retailers are also preparing their online platforms and distribution networks for the second leg of this big shopping weekend, which comes in the form of Cyber Monday, falling this year on Monday, 27 November.
It said, "Following a large fall in the value of Sterling in recent times, online retail transactions have grown strongly with total ecommerce spend likely to exceed €16 billion before year end. This would represent a close to 50% increase since 2015, highlighting the increasing numbers of Irish consumers shopping online".
© 2017 - Checkout Magazine by Donna Ahern
