Black Friday Has Been in Britain for 16 Years. Have We Ever Really Fallen for It?
There was a time when Black Friday meant watching American news reports of shoppers queuing outside department stores, sometimes for hours, before rushing through the doors in pursuit of heavily discounted televisions and electrical goods. It always seemed like a rather unusual American tradition, particularly when Britain already had its Boxing Day and January sales. Yet in 2010, Amazon decided to bring the event across the Atlantic, and within a few years British retailers were enthusiastically promoting their own versions of the shopping phenomenon.
Sixteen years later, Black Friday has become an established part of the British retail calendar, with discounts appearing throughout November and retailers competing for attention long before the day itself arrives. But with another Black Friday approaching on 27 November, it's worth asking whether British shoppers have genuinely embraced the occasion or simply become accustomed to being told that it's something worth getting excited about.
From American tradition to British shopping frenzy
Black Friday has a natural place in the American calendar, taking place immediately after Thanksgiving and marking the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Britain, however, imported the sales without the holiday that gave them their original context, leaving retailers to manufacture much of the excitement themselves.
Things became particularly memorable in 2013 when Asda, then owned by American retail giant Walmart, introduced Black Friday promotions to its UK stores. The following year produced chaotic scenes of shoppers fighting over discounted televisions, with images of crowded supermarkets becoming national news. Interestingly, Asda withdrew from the event in 2015, citing shopper fatigue and choosing to spread its discounts across the Christmas period instead.
What began as an extraordinary spectacle has since become something considerably more ordinary. The queues have largely given way to online shopping, while the one-day event has expanded into Black Friday weeks and sometimes an entire month of promotions. Rather than bringing an American shopping tradition to Britain, retailers appear to have created something distinctly different.
Are British shoppers losing interest?
Black Friday certainly hasn't disappeared, and the money involved remains substantial. According to PwC's research, British consumers were expected to spend £6.4 billion during the 2025 Black Friday period. However, the same research found that interest in participating had fallen from 53% in 2024 to 46% in 2025, suggesting that the event's commercial importance doesn't necessarily translate into growing enthusiasm among consumers.
A separate YouGov study published in September 2025 found that 35% of Britons were less interested in Black Friday-style sales than they had been a few years earlier, compared with just 12% who had become more interested.
Perhaps that's hardly surprising. With retailers offering discounts throughout the year, consumers have become increasingly accustomed to seeing supposedly exceptional deals advertised almost constantly. The novelty of Black Friday has arguably disappeared, leaving shoppers to decide whether the savings are genuinely worthwhile rather than getting caught up in the excitement.
And there are reasons to be cautious. Research published by consumer organisation Which? in November 2025 found that 83% of the 175 products it investigated had been available for the same price or less at another point outside the Black Friday promotional period. Although genuine bargains can certainly be found, such findings raise questions about whether shoppers are always receiving the exceptional discounts suggested by the advertising.
Have we embraced the bargains rather than the tradition?
There is something particularly British about the way Black Friday has developed. We may not share the American enthusiasm for Thanksgiving weekend shopping, but we certainly appreciate finding a bargain, especially with Christmas approaching and household budgets remaining under pressure.
Perhaps that explains why the event continues to attract significant spending despite signs of declining excitement. For many shoppers, Black Friday is no longer an occasion to anticipate but simply another opportunity to purchase something they've already been considering, hopefully at a lower price.
Sixteen years after arriving in Britain, Black Friday has unquestionably succeeded in establishing itself within our shopping habits. Whether it has earned the same affection as the traditional British sales is another matter entirely.
And as retailers prepare another November filled with supposedly unmissable offers, perhaps the real question isn't whether British consumers have fallen for Black Friday, but whether we've simply learned to separate the genuine bargains from the marketing surrounding them.
