RETAIL RANDOMS

BEFORE YOU GO...BLACK FRIDAY / RESPONSIBLE DRINKING

BLACK FRIDAY: SLIPPERS, CONSOLES AND VIRGINS

The jury is definitely out on this whole Black Friday palaver. There’s plenty data to suggest that it’s a bit of a con in the first place: much of what gets touted as “outrageous Black Friday deals” is actually more expensive, or the same price as, deals already available from retailers prior to the annual festival of reckless consumption.

But we were intrigued by a release from an e-commerce data platform called Optiseller which ran data on exactly what shoppers bought on Black Friday, or the Black Friday fortnight as it’s rapidly becoming. Over 35,000 online retailers in over 40 countries use Optiseller, so they see a fair bit of data.

Apparently the gist of Black Friday can be summed up as follows: slippers, consoles and online virgins.

This was a bumper year for Black Friday with US online sales of $9bn (a 22% increase on 2019) and it appears that all we wanted for Christmas is a comfy pair of slippers and an Xbox or PS5. Clothes in general and fancy clothes like party frocks and designer heels took a tanking. No parties to go to, no point in getting dressed up for working from home.

Having said that, loungewear and leisurewear, including tracksuits, were through the roof. Oh to be a fly on wall in the UK’s households this Christmas.

The other big trend was a huge spike in shoppers who were shopping online for the first time – which, by implication, suggests that local retailers might do well to get their online game in order to help capitalise on all these new folk getting comfy with online ordering.

DRINK RESPONSIBLY THIS CHRISTMAS, FOLKS

Diageo is taking its responsible drinking comms seriously this Christmas as it adds new on-pack guidance for consumers to its bottles of Smirnoff, Gordon’s Gin, Baileys and Captain Morgan. This makes Diageo the first alcohol company in the UK to introduce a voluntary health warning, which will direct consumers to DRINKiQ.com, a global resource which aims to give consumers the knowledge and tools to make informed choices around alcohol.

And like it says, drinking responsibly is all about finding the right balance, something that can be quite tricky at the end of a long night of lockdown in front of the telly watching I’m A Celebrity.