Black Friday 2021: Quarter of Brits set to buy early for Christmas

26 November 2021, London – Around a quarter (28%) of UK consumers will be shopping for early Christmas presents this Black Friday weekend, a new survey suggests, with consumers expected to smash last year’s record sales for the period. 61% of consumers said their Black Friday shopping spree will be about the same as or more than last year, with consumers forecast to spend more than £9 billion (£5.7 billion online) over the course of the weekend. 40% said they made purchases during the Black Friday sales in 2020 - where an estimated £6 billion was spent, boosted by lockdown closures on the UK high street - while 28% said they will specifically shop during this time for discounts. Only one in 10 will do less Black Friday shopping than in 2020, with 14% waiting to see what bargains are out there before deciding, according to the research commissioned by e-commerce shipping delivery platform Sendcloud. 45% of consumers also believe Black Friday and Cyber Monday are reasons to buy Christmas presents early in a bid to save money. Online retailers across Europe are gearing themselves up for the busiest time of the year from Black Friday to Christmas, with consumers still expected to order up to 95% more parcels compared to the average shopping week.  The busiest day is anticipated to take place on Cyber Monday, where the number of parcels is set to triple, according to data produced by Sendcloud.  “With the explosive growth in parcels around the holidays, it is essential to have sufficient capacity to deliver everything in time”, says Rob van den Heuvel, CEO and Co-founder at Sendcloud.  “We know that consumers can quickly change their mind, especially when they see a deal they simply can’t resist. Last year, both retailers and couriers were taken by surprise by the huge flow of parcels, so they need to expect the unexpected this year if customers are to get their orders on time. Having in place an omni-channel strategy, utilising multiple shipping couriers, will help prevent any bottlenecks and allow merchants to be extra flexible in case of delays,” van den Heuvel concludes.

About Sendcloud

Sendcloud is an all-in-one shipping platform for e-commerce businesses that want to scale. It is our mission to empower online retailers to compete by optimising the full shipping journey from checkout to returns. Our solution turns e-commerce logistics from a bottleneck into an accelerator, making shipping a competitive advantage. Founded in the Netherlands in 2012, Sendcloud has quickly become one of the fastest growing scale-ups and leading shipping solutions in Europe, with more than 23,000 customers across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Austria. Customers range from small to enterprise-sized online retailers and in industries from fashion and electronics to food & drink.