Yahoo Finance Black Friday eclipsed as shop reopening sparks Christmas rush
The reopening of shops following the easing of lockdown restrictions has sparked a pre-Christmas shopping rush, as payments processed last weekend eclipsed those of Black Friday.
Barclaycard Payments data has shown that on Sunday 6 December, there were 40.6% more transactions last weekend than on Black Friday, the 27 November.
Black Friday this year, hailed for its discounts and deals, was a totally online event in England, as the country’s second lockdown was still in full force. There were also still COVID-19-busting restrictions across the rest of the UK.
Barclaycard Payments processes nearly £1 in every £3 spent in the UK.
Rob Cameron, CEO of Barclaycard Payments, said: “This will be welcome news for retailers, after what has been an incredibly tough year, and we hope that sales figures will continue to remain strong in the run-up to Christmas, so that the sector can end the year on a high.”
READ MORE: Lockdowns hit UK retail sales ahead of crucial festive period
This is positive news, following a disappointing November for retailers. Data released on Tuesday morning by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Barclaycard showed that consumer spending in some sectors continued to flounder in November, as new restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus took effect.
The BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor for November found that over the three months to November, in-store sales of non-food items declined 18.6% on a total and 10.8% on a like-for-like basis.
This is better than the 12-month total average decline of 21.7%. For November, however, the like-for-like excluding temporarily closed stores remained in decline.
Barclaycard data told a similar story, showing that consumer spending declined 1.9% in November as new restrictions took effect.
The data show that spending on essentials grew 4.9%, with a 17.9% rise in supermarket shopping offsetting a 23.8% decrease in fuel.
READ MORE: More than £1bn spent on UK’s Small Business Saturday
Alongside this, the largest declines at clothing and department stores seen since June contributed to non-essential spending falling 4.6%.
Festive shopping has given a welcome boost for some sectors, as online spend at specialist retailers was up 85.8%, a category which includes toy shops, jewellers and gift shops.
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