John Lewis Black Friday 2020 Update

Pippa Wicks, Executive Director for John Lewis said: "This Black Friday period has been like no other with just three of our shops open, but we've worked incredibly hard to meet the significant online demand we've seen this past week and to provide our customers with a wide choice of brilliant offers on the products they love.

“We are still offering hundreds of Black Friday deals this weekend and continue to monitor the prices of our high street competitors meaning that our customers can be sure we offer the best value on the high street throughout the Black Friday period and in the run up to Christmas.  Preparations are well underway to reopen all of our shops in England next week and we look forward to welcoming our customers to help them make this Christmas extra special.” 

Current Black Friday highlights (data as at 9am 27th November): 

• The 27th November will be a record day for online orders sold via John Lewis.com. Based on current projections, it will be +35% ahead of its busiest day over the period last year. 
• People have shopped on average earlier than in previous years.   
• Record searches this year (+37%) with the busiest hour on the day Black Friday deals launched (20th November) as customers sought deals earlier.  New game consoles dominated the most popular searches.
• The Give a Little Love Heart Shaped Red Umbrella which features in the new Christmas TV advert is its biggest selling fashion item so far. 
• Pampering products and Lego Creator Expert kits among this year’s big sellers.  

John Lewis has shipped more than 2.5m products since its Black Friday offers began on 20th November - 67% up on last year.  Prior to Black Friday itself, the biggest day for one-man customer orders, i.e. those orders which can be delivered by one driver, was yesterday (26th November), up 63% on last year - a new record. 

The busiest hour on average has been 8pm to 9pm as people shopped earlier than in previous years with an average of 192 orders per minute.  The busiest hour so far was 10am to 11am on the very first day of its Black Friday period (20th November) with an average of 258 orders per minute as customers sought deals early. 

Total one-man deliveries were up 30% this year with standard home delivery up 72% and next and named day deliveries up 114%. 

There have been more than 18.7m product searches this year, 37% more than last year, with the new games consoles dominating the top five as expected, overtaking Lego and Edgar the Dragon toys from last year’s John Lewis Christmas advert campaign. 

The most popular search has been for game consoles and Lego also remains popular.  Other top searches include fashion brands and beauty brands, including Mint Velvet, Hush, Charlotte Tilbury and Barbour with advent calendars also featuring highly. 

Source : John Lewis Partnership

For all the very latest news and intelligence on the UK's largest home improvement and garden retailers, sign up for the Insight DIY weekly newsletter.