High street stores expecting Black Friday bonus of £200m

The idea was taken from the Black Friday sales in America and has become huge in Britain. Stores bosses are looking at doubling the amount made last year. Thousands of deals will be offered by the big names on the high street, such as Argos, Curry’s and John Lewis.

Stores are expecting tens of thousands of shoppers to start queuing outside centers and supermarkets in the early hours of Friday to get their share of discounted smartphones, tablets, TVs and more. It is expected that many consumers will go online overnight and John Lewis has made the decision to launch their deals one minute past midnight.

The chief customer officer at Asda, Steve Smith, said the mild weather during autumn means very few shoppers have started shopping for Christmas and this will make Black Friday bigger than the previous year.

Amazon started Black Friday discounting during 2010 and other retailers on the high street followed their example last year. However, this year has seen all the stores getting involved.

For many people, Black Friday coincides with the day they receive their last pay check prior to Christmas. This means that the deals being offered over several days will see huge amounts being spent.

Black Friday is a huge sales tradition in the US and it is not uncommon to witness violent scenes at sales. During 2011, a woman used pepper spray on a Walmart, Los Angeles crowd, simply to gain access to a Nintendo Wii, which had been reduced by 60%.

Asda experienced this frenzy last year when fights ensued to gain access to their 60-inch television sets which had been drastically reduced in price. This year the group has decided to bring in 2000 extra staff members, including security guards, and will try to operate a queuing system. To try and avert problems, Asda has increased the number of offers on hand and increased stock.

Retailers have seen a decline in year-on-year sales due to the mild climate during autumn, and so are placing their hopes on Black Friday to boost their annual sales figures.