天美传媒鈥檚 Jeff Bray went on BBC Radio Solent last Friday to offer his thoughts on Black Friday in the UK.
The BU lecturer appeared Louisa Hannan鈥檚 Drivetime show, and spoke about how Black Friday had been around 鈥渟ince the 60鈥檚 in America鈥�, but came over here partly because of the rise of internet shopping. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have offers in one country and leave [shoppers] out in another鈥�, explained Bray, 鈥淚t is inevitable鈥�.
Discussing where the occasion got its name from, Bray admitted that he 鈥渃ouldn鈥檛 give a categorical answer鈥�, but believed that it could be due to pollution caused by shopping traffic, or how it is the day of the year when 鈥渞etailers, many of whom operate at a loss for 11 months of the year, suddenly start turning a profit 鈥� or enter the black.
鈥淎 lot of the big retailers today are actually predicting bigger sales than on Boxing Day - traditionally a big shopping day in the UK,鈥� Bray added.
The show also explored the negative side of Black Friday; with a local businessman describing it as 鈥榓 frenzy鈥� that simply moves spending from one day to another.
鈥淚 think that a lot of businesses will say that,鈥� Bray said, 鈥淚 actually question whether big retailers that offer 40% off of large electrical items will be making much money on these products that they are selling at such discounted prices.
鈥淏ut it does get people thinking about Christmas shopping in a big way鈥�.
A staggering 拢360,000 per minute was spent on credit cards during the day, with Bray also pointing out that 鈥渋t doesn鈥檛 just stop today鈥�, but continued with 鈥淐yber Monday鈥� and 鈥淪mall Business Saturday on 6 December鈥�.
The clip is available (from 33 minutes in) on the .
