UK DIY News

Nationwide: Black Friday Expected To Break Records Again

Black Friday transactions to be 9 per cent higher than 2023 with Brits expecting to spend average of £278
Nationwide members predicted to spend £233K per minute on the day, an uplift of 12 per cent versus last year
Research shows over 80% of people plan to take part in Black Friday and 1 in 3 return up to 5 items each year
Live data: Consumer spending data (payments and fraud) to be available for media on Black Friday. Spokespeople will be available for interview throughout the day

Black Friday is tipped to break spending records once again as Brits try to make a sizeable dent in their Christmas shopping.

Nationwide Building Society predicts that Black Friday transactions will jump 9 per cent compared to last year, with its customers expected to make around 10.6 million payments, compared to 9.7 million in 2023. Customers are predicted to spend more than £336 million on the day (£233,333 per minute) compared to £300 million in 2023 (£208,333 per minute) – a 12 per cent rise.

The predicted rise in Black Friday spending, based on recent and historic Nationwide debit and credit card spend patterns, comes as research¹ conducted by Nationwide highlights that over 80 per cent of consumers are planning to spend on Black Friday items this year, with an average expected spend of £278.

But while almost a quarter (24%) say they have a budget that they will stick to, over half (52%) either haven’t set a budget or say they would exceed it should they find something that they need or want. Last year, Black Friday saw 6.9 million logins to the Nationwide Banking App – a 17 per cent² increase when compared to the last Friday of October 2023.

Electronics (34%), clothing (41%), toys & games (25%) and beauty products (26%) are the top product categories shoppers will have their eyes on, according to Nationwide’s poll of 2,000 people.

Large online only merchants like Amazon and online department stores like John Lewis will naturally attract the majority of spend, with a respective 62 per cent and 43 per cent of people saying they would purchase items from those retailers. However, more than one in five (22%) will shop at small independent website retailers and 20 per cent will go to online marketplaces like eBay, Vinted and Facebook Marketplace for Black Friday deals.

Despite the Black Friday rush to grab a bargain, most consumers are happy with their purchases, with almost 60 per cent saying that they don’t return any items. However, almost a third (32%) return up to five Black Friday purchases each year. Of those that do return at least one item, a quarter of consumers said it was because they’d spent too much money on Black Friday.

As Black Friday approaches Nationwide is calling on consumers to be on alert for deals that seem too good to be true. The warning comes as over a fifth (21%) say that they would buy an item if it was significantly cheaper on a website they hadn’t used before. Just less than half (45%) said they would buy it after conducting “a bit” of research into the merchant. 49 per cent said they have never reported suspicious transactions on their account to their bank or building society. According to UK Finance’s Annual Fraud Report³, purchase scams were the most common type of APP scam last year, accounting for 67 per cent of APP scam cases.

Mark Nalder, Director of Payment Strategy at Nationwide said: “It looks like we are in for another record-breaking Black Friday as it continues to act as the ‘opening bell’ for Christmas shopping. Despite cost-of-living challenges, consumers are still pinpointing Black Friday to get a sizeable chunk of their Christmas shopping done.

“However, it’s important shoppers remain vigilant and stay safe when making purchases online to avoid falling victim to a purchase scam. That is why people, where possible, should pay by credit or debit card as this offers greater consumer protection. Nationwide customers can also use our Scam Checker Service before making any payments if they are even slightly concerned.”

Nationwide encourages any customers concerned about a purchase to use its Scam Checker Service, which is available in branch or by calling a 24/7 freephone number (0800 030 4057). If the payment goes ahead and the customer is subsequently scammed, unless Nationwide told the customer not to proceed, they will be fully reimbursed.  