JLL’s Industrial and Retail experts make their comments and predictions for Black Friday and its future.
Tim Vallance, lead director of JLL UK’s Retail & Leisure team said:
“Black Friday has changed the Christmas retail goal posts in the UK for good. It now marks the start of the Christmas trading period and last year we saw that strong retail growth in November balanced out the more subdued figures from December. The question is how will Black Friday develop and evolve? Retailers need to strike a balance between good marketing and making sure they are not losing out due to the price dilution that the event commands. The day is beginning to become synonymous with queues, brawls and general mayhem and consumers and retailers alike will want to see more orders driven online. As a result, we may see greater deployment of services such as UBERrush, googleexpress and amazon flex and vacant or underused retail space acting as temporary pick up locations for online consumers hoping to avoid the crowds.”
Jon Sleeman, director UK Logistics & Industrial Research at JLL, commented:
“Last year, Black Friday caused major issues for certain retailers and parcel operators which were unable to handle the sales volumes. This year we are seeing a range of responses with some retailers scaling back their Black Friday discounts, whilst others seek to spread sales over a longer period of promotions. In addition, a number of parcel operators have invested significantly in new handling capacity. Retailers and parcel operators need to find ways to meet peak sales to service customers and protect their brands.”
Richard Evans, director in JLL’s Industrial & Logistics team added:
“Supply chain strategy is often defined and reasserted on a brand’s performance following how well or poorly it handles Black Friday. It may only be once a year, but the lessons learned about the limits of current supply chains and possible creative solutions to address them are invaluable all year-round.”
