Despite the widely reported cost of living crisis and pressures on consumer spending, only one in 12 retailers included free delivery as a part of their Black Friday promotions last year. This is according to IMRG, which has released its Black Friday and Christmas 2022 review in partnership with nShift, the global leader in parcel delivery management and shipment software.
The report is compiled from data tracked by IMRG from 320 retailers across the eight-day Black Friday week in 2022 – with the sales sample taken representative of £1bn in UK online spend for that period. It also found that out of 295 live Black Friday campaigns in 2022, a substantial amount (35%) of retailers only included free delivery over a certain amount spent while some (26.5%) retailers offered conjunctive delivery-orientated offers, such as extended delivery or free returns. Despite the anticipated disruption, only 4% of retailers had mail strike notices on their website homepage.
Andy Mulcahy, Strategy and Insight Director at IMRG, “Retailers expend a lot of effort working out what kind of offer to put in place during the Black Friday period, and inevitably a lot of focus falls on the width and depth of discounting. It may be worth experimenting with other options such as free delivery though, since it is not widely available without a threshold at the moment; could that be something that makes retailers stand out above the competition?”
Despite the macro economic pressures, the report found that online revenue for retailers during Black Friday week was up (+0.3% YoY) in the UK. This was predominantly driven by the health & beauty sector (+3.8% YoY), while electricals (+2.8% YoY), and home & garden (-0.7% YoY) also performed better than anticipated in IMRG’s index. However, Black Friday day (25 November 2022) saw a -5.5% YoY decline in total market growth.
Trading across the month of November demonstrated an +0.1% YoY growth. However, the report suggests this was because consumers were looking to get their Christmas shopping done early. In turn, December exhibited a -11.4% decline compared to the previous month.
Lars Pedersen, CEO at nShift said, “Learning lessons from last year’s Black Friday can help retailers stay ahead of the game and deliver more for consumers next year. At the heart of getting it right, is the ability to shape a shopping experience that works for the customer. And that means providing the right delivery options, keeping customers updated, and making returns simple.”
