Online shopping preferred to in-store Black Friday experience

Almost a third ( 31%) of US respondents said they disliked shopping on Black Friday (which falls on 25 November this year) and 29% said it was a marketing trick where retailers manipulated the price to convince shoppers they are getting a good deal. Among UK respondents that rose to 42% seeing it as marketing trick.

Half of US ( 51%) and UK ( 48%) respondents said they have no plans to shop this year. Of those who will make a purchase, only 7% of US and 4% of UK shoppers said they would limit most of their Black Friday shopping to stores, with most preferring to shop online, or do both. 

With 13% (US) and 9% (UK) saying that the ‘stores are just too chaotic’, 39% of US and 42% of UK shoppers plan to do the majority or all of their Black Friday shopping online (compared to 35% and 33% in 2015 ). 

Channie Mize, global general manager for retail at Periscope said: “The research highlights that consumers consider the Black Friday experience stressful and inconvenient compared with shopping online. The physical store is not dead, but struggling. Retailers need to find new attractive ways to draw consumers into their stores, using data-driven insights to inform the buying, assortment and promotional activities to maximum effect across all channels, giving customers the great experience they crave.”

The online research was conducted in October 2016 and targeted adult consumers in the US and UK. It gathered 1,570 qualified responses.