Scottish spend on Black Friday deals expected to increase by a fifth

The average participating shopper in Scotland is expected to spend £35 more than last year, climbing 20 per cent from £181, PwC said.

But not everyone is embracing the event with 10 per cent of shoppers confirming they would purposefully avoid the promotional weekend, which has become a mainstay of the UK shopping calendar in the run-up to Christmas.

The survey found that 18 per cent of shoppers in Scotland intend to make a purchase this year. A further 23 per cent said they were interested in making a purchase, but only if the right deal came up. Thirty six per cent of shoppers interviewed said they were not interested, while 10 per cent said they had made purchases in the past but did not intend to make any purchases this year.

Last year, three-quarters of those surveyed said their purchases were planned, while 46 per cent said they made an impulse purchase.

The most commonly shopped category over the period is electrical, with 56 per cent of shoppers naming it as one of three categories where they expected to spend the most money. Behind this is Christmas stocking fillers and treats, where 46 per cent expect to make a purchase, followed by clothing (40 per cent), toys (30 per cent) and health and beauty (29 percent).

Claire Reid, head of retail for PwC in Scotland, said: “Retailers across Scotland will be hopeful of a strong festive period so they will be heartened by this increased appetite for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, particularly given the challenges facing the sector this year.

“With retail sales falling in October for the first time since the spring, what we could be seeing is consumers holding back on spending in anticipation of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, which only serves to highlight the increasingly importance of this promotional event on the retail calendar.

“While a number of large retailers have said they would not be participating in Black Friday, we are seeing the event move into new categories such as fashion. It is now something shoppers simply expect, so retailers – particularly those targeting younger consumers – ignore Black Friday at their peril.”

Momentum in Black Friday gathered pace in the UK in 2010 when global e-commerce firms extended the traditional post-Thanksgiving sales event outside the US. By 2012 a number of UK retailers had joined the practice and the event has grown in prominence since.

Black Friday has been joined by the online-focussed Cyber Monday as more retailers run promotions over a number of days.

In Scotland 28 per cent of people said they did most of their shopping on Black Friday, with just 7 per cent citing Cyber Monday. However, 43 per cent said they did not know the difference between the two events and 23 per cent saying they shopped on both days.

Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC, said: “For some product categories, Black Friday is set to become more important than Christmas; most notably electricals, but also fashion, toys and beauty. So those retailers that have announced that they will not be participating in any discounting over this period risk their customers walking, or clicking, straight past to their competitors.”

Glasgow is listed as the fourth most frequently shopping ‘high street’ in the survey, behind London, Manchester and Birmingham, with Edinburgh just falling outside the top 10.

Across the UK, breakdowns show men are planning to spend £60 per head more than women on average. Meanwhile 25-34’s are the biggest spending age group, with a £278 planned spend per head, up by 17 per cent over the last year. 18-24 year olds may be the most interested age group, but they have the lowest budgets and are the ones that have been the most squeezed this year, with their planned spend falling 20 per cent to £181.