Shoppers hunting Black Friday bargains sparked a surge in online sales during the small hours but left high street stores looking deserted compared with the frantic scramble of previous years.
Retailers’ most eagerly awaited day of the year has increasingly been moving on to the web and the trend showed no signs of abating as online stores started racking up sales from midnight.
John Rogers, the new chief executive officer of Argos, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there had been 500,000 visits to the retailer’s website in the first hour of online trading between midnight and 1pm – up 50% on last year.
He said he expected traffic to peak between 7am and 10am as people shop on their mobile phones on their way to work.
Rogers predicted that Argos would take 70% or more of its orders onlinetoday compared with 50% during normal trading, and that the company was better prepared for Black Friday than last year after rigorously testing its systems.
Online retailers have this year taken extra precautions to prevent online meltdown and overloaded websites crashing.
Currys PC World’s Black Friday 2016 deals webpage suffered problems just after midnight, according to tweets from furious “early bird” shoppers. The first UK bargain-hunters reported frustratingly slow loading times and pages timing out.
“Currys how is this happening?” one user tweeted. Another posted: “bit of a joke you being currys pcworld and your website crashing. Remind me never to go to you for a PC!”
Currys how is this happening?
— Lucille Lou (@Lucille2lou) November 25, 2016
@curryspcworld glad I waited up for this 🙄
— Lucille Lou (@Lucille2lou) November 25, 2016
A spokeswoman said: “Currys PC World’s website experienced a few issues for a short period of 15 minutes just after midnight. The majority of customers were still able to access the site and place orders but we understand that some shoppers had problems loading the pages.
“This was quickly rectified and we have had no further reported issues. We’ve already seen over half a million visitors to the site between midnight and 6am this morning (with orders up 40% for the same period last year) with the Google Chromecast, Samsung Galaxy Tablets and JVC 32in TVs being the most popular items for shoppers.”
While online retailers were busy, stores were off to a slow start. At the Tesco Extra in Streatham, south London, there were only 11 people in the queue when the supermarket opened at 5am – barely outnumbering the security guards.
Some of those queuing had been there since 4.30am and were surprised how few people had turned up compared with last year.
Tony was queuing up for a “must-have” Hatchimal toy after being unable to get one for his children online. “I’ll either go home a hero or if they haven’t got one I’ll be home in bed in half an hour,” he told the Guardian.
Most of those in the queue were planning to pick up a TV from the large pile just inside the door. But it was more of a saunter than a scramble once the doors opened.
Michael, who bought two TVs, said: “This is quiet, very calm. Last year at Sainsbury’s it was crazy. I thought it would be a real rabble again.” He said he was buying himself a TV for the second year in a row as the one he got last year broke.
Frederic said he’d come along to look at the deals but had not bought anything.
“Last year there was a big queue and we had to call a car. We got a TV and a microwave. This time it’s too small. There’s not something I need, it’s just TVs and coffee machines,” he said.
Martin Francis, the store manager at Tesco in Streatham, said he was expecting sales to build through the day into the afternoon. He said hundreds more TVs would be delivered over the weekend. “It will give us additional spend later on when people come in to do their normal shop,” he said.
Sainsbury’s in Harringay was equally quiet and it was about 5.50am before even a small queue gathered outside. The branch was one of just three the retailer opened early for the sale, and had been closed since midnight in preparation.
Two years ago, the shop was the scene of scuffles and queue jumping, but this year things were very different.
At 5.45am, a huddle of workers were being briefed near the door, but not a single person was waiting. The huge banner urging shoppers to “Hurry, while stocks last” had not persuaded the people of this part of north London to set their alarm clocks.
One woman waiting outside ahead of doors opening said she was there to buy a TV: “I might get something else but my main aim is to get a big TV.” She said this was her first Black Friday. “I wasn’t keen on coming before – I didn’t like the idea of fighting.”
No one else was keen to talk about what they were after. Through the doors a pile of TVs, vacuum cleaners, laptops and Nutri Ninjas was visible, and as the doors opened five minutes early, what little crowd there was made a beeline straight for the stack of goods.
About half an hour later the shop floor was still looking pretty pristine. People who came to the store stopped to take a look, but most just left with what they’d come in for, or nothing.
A couple who formed part of the original queue left with just a bag of groceries. One of the store workers said it had been quiet last year too: “Everyone’s doing their shopping online.”
The TV hunter had loaded a 40-inch Blaupunkt set – down from £220 to £150 – into her trolley, but after 40 minutes she emerged empty handed. She had bought a TV – but one from elsewhere in the store, and she was going to send her son to pick it up. She said she was not surprised the shop was quiet. “People don’t want to come out because of the fighting. They are doing it all online.”
