Black Friday 2022: After Covid, cost of living crisis to dampen sales? Here's what experts predict

As customers face the cost-of-living crisis, Black Friday might be weak this year. This is the first holiday season without Covid regulations in three years, therefore the number of people shopping is projected to be higher than in 2021. However, budgets will be tighter as prices rise at the fastest pace in 41 years. The stakes are high for retailers today as they strive to get customers to spend with a barrage of Black Friday deals.

Experts predict a "Bleak Friday" this year since the cost of living crisis means customers will refuse bargains on new devices, homeware, apparel, and the like.

According to retail analyst Richard Lim, Black Friday will be a "muted affair", with sales down from the previous year.


Despite being one of the biggest shopping days of the year, this year's Black Friday is also competing with the Football World Cup.

'Electronics, where retailers focused heavily on TVs for watching the World Cup, were still down -9.4%, against -14% for the same week in 2021, so that feels like a disappointing response from shoppers', Andy Mulcahy, an analyst at IMRG said.

Amazon said that it will give discounts throughout the holiday season as well as throughout the year. John Boumphrey, Amazon's UK national manager stated, "We are extremely conscious of the cost challenges consumers are now experiencing".

FAQs:

1. What are the objectives of Black Friday sales?
   It usually symbolises the start of the Christmas shopping season. Many retailers advertise heavily-reduced bargains and often open early, sometimes as early as midnight, or even on Thanksgiving.
2. What is the duration of Black Friday?
   Black Friday comes to an end as soon as Cyber Monday starts. The greatest deals are generally only available on these two days (and the weekend between them.