Stores are set to cut back on Black Friday discounts this year to avoid another ‘delivery tsunami’. The idea of Black Friday has been imported from America, where retailers offer big discounts to kick start the Christmas shopping season. However, it proved a disaster in Britain last year with long queues and violent scenes which saw the police criticising supermarkets for failing to put in place proper security. The web stores trade body, IMRG, has warned retailers that they will have to fundamentally rethink how they handle Black Friday this year after a catastrophe in 2014 . At the same time, many online stores were simply unable to cope with the rush of orders with the result that a huge delivery backlog was created. Many retailers were also disappointed to find the event merely brought forward sales that would have happened later in December, rather than generating any extra business. The web stores trade body, IMRG, has warned retailers that they will have to fundamentally rethink how they handle Black Friday this year. Significantly, it said: ‘Black Friday can be very profitable for retailers who get it right, but discount rates will need to be rationalised and panic-discounting avoided.’ It suggests stores might want to spread the discounts and promotion over a longer period, perhaps a weekend or week, in order to avoid the spike in orders. Firms should also ensure they have sufficient couriers to cope and warn customers that deliveries may take longer than normal, or set up alternative click and collect services. Scenes of violence: Cutomers fought tooth and nail to make the most of discount deals on black Friday. The scale of the event greatly exceeded everyone’s expectations . For many the scenes of chaos didn't pay off. Some retailers were disappointed to find the event merely brought forward sales that would have happened later in December, rather than generating any extra business . The IMRG said: ‘The scale of Black Friday 2014 greatly exceeded everyone’s expectations, which meant a large number of online orders were compressed into a far shorter period of time than anticipated – triggering an online retail ‘delivery tsunami’. ‘This heavily impacted carrier and retailer fulfilment operations and normal activity suffered for days afterwards.’ Andrew Starkey, head of e-logistics at IMRG, said: ‘The huge surge in demand on Black Friday 2014 was unprecedented and caught everyone in the industry by surprise. Fevered and bullish behaviour in retail outlets saw the police criticising supermarkets for failing to put in place proper security . ‘The exact form of it may evolve in 2015, but at least this time we have a precedent and time to develop strategies to ensure the Christmas peak runs as efficiently as possible. ‘It’s fair to say that Black Friday splits opinion, but the impact of it is so vast that it affects all retailers whether they run campaigns or not. ‘The key points for industry to address are around how to smooth out the spike – even spreading it over a few days would make a massive difference to fulfilment operations – and managing expectation so that customers receive accurate and up-to-date information about the progress of their orders.’ Firms should also ensure they have sufficient couriers to cope and warn customers that deliveries may take longer than normal, or set up alternative click and collect services, the IMRG said.
Shops cut back US retail event to avoid deliveries overload and confusion . Discounts supposed to kick-off Christmas proved disaster in the UK . Scenes of violence and disappointment marred Britain's Black Friday . Rush to order reduced merchandise online created huge delivery backlog . Expectations must be managed and crowds tamed for success this year .