Has retail shot itself in the foot by letting Black Friday get out of hand?

It seems the much-hyped Black Friday has been somewhat of a damp squib this year. Retailers are quoted in some local newspapers as saying Friday 25th November was much like any other day, and some are even saying it was quieter than usual.

So what’s happened? Why did the retail scrum fail to materialise this year?

We can’t discount the current economic pessimism in the shadow of Brexit and a somewhat gloomy Autumn Statement. Neither can we underestimate a general feeling that life is getting more expensive. But it is very hard to believe people are tightening their belts to such an extent that they are forgoing the bargains offered on Black Friday; bargains that would certainly ease the financial load of Christmas.

Social media offers a more likely answer. On Facebook and Twitter there has been an obvious air of resistance in the run up to Black Friday. Countless memes were shared which scornfully denounced Black Friday and suggested people buy nothing instead. This wasn’t a coordinated campaign; more a general agreement between people that they weren’t going to be led by the nose by retailers.

The highly publicised Black Friday scrums of last year didn’t impress many people. This was uncivilised behaviour that few can sympathise with or would want to be associated with. At the same time, the refusal of companies like Tesco to immediately and strongly denounce the scrums had the feeling of smug satisfaction bordering on gloating.

One BBC news story even recounted how Tesco customers in Northampton were made to ‘sit like dogs’ before they scrambled for cut price meat. This didn’t paint a good picture for Tesco, and it wasn’t helped by their response focussing heavily of concern for customer safety. Where was the respect for customers? Where was the surprise that shoppers were acting like this?

The correct response from retail would have been to issue an immediate denouncing of the scrums; an admission that they hadn’t handled the situation well; and a promise they would put measures in place to stop it happening again. Instead it felt as if they were content with the situation and comfortable with an image of retailers throwing crumbs and delighting as they watched us plebs fight over them.

As we have seen in many areas of life recently, the true power of social media to galvanise and give focus to the moods of the population is increasingly obvious. It should certainly not be underestimated by the business world. The apparent failure of Black Friday 2017 is an example of such a power being exercised. It is also an example of the failure by retailers to respect customers’ intelligence. We will continue to shop, and we will increasingly take advantage of bargains as our budgets tighten, but we will do it on our own terms, not when a gloating retail community tells us.