Black Friday retail footfall below pre-pandemic levels amid cost of living crisis – as it happened
Retail experts predict a more muted Black Friday this year, as consumers cut back and Royal Mail strike disrupts deliveries
UK businesses may have to offer more aggressive discounts than usual, to encourage shoppers to spend this Black Friday.
But that will eat into profit margins, as Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, explains:
Businesses will be desperately fighting it out for the slimmed down collective pot of potential consumer spending.
However, businesses have also been facing a big increase in costs from energy to wages to materials. This troublesome combination of increased costs and higher discounts will put pressure on margins, making it increasingly tough for retailers to remain profitable.
Amazon workers in Coventry are overworked, underpaid and they've had enough, said Amanda Gearing, a senior GMB organiser, adding that hundreds will assemble to demand a wage increase from 10.50 an hour to 15.
Any workers who walk out during a shift could lose out on the second half of a 500 bonus that Amazon announced for UK warehouse workers last month. The final payment is contingent on staff taking no unauthorised absence between November 22nd and December 24th.
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