From Black Friday to Red Friday

Black Friday is known around the world as the ‘day of all shopping’. In fact, it even influences the trend on Wall Street depending on its sales volume. This day after the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday – always celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November – in the United States, like so many other American fashions, has taken hold all over the world, and is known by that name because it is the day when commerce goes from ‘red’ (losses) to ‘black’ (profits) in its accounts. However, this year, high inflation and the economic downturn are looking more red than black.

In Spain, for example, the hiring of staff to attend to the end of November’s “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” shopping sprees will fall by 17.3% compared to these same bargain campaigns in 2021, to 33,380 contracts (7,000 fewer), according to a report by Randstad Research.

Behind this decline in the number of contracts, the study points to the rise in energy prices, inflation and the difficult international context.

Logistics will account for 64% of the new hires, while commerce will sign the remaining 36%, says the analysis.

By autonomous communities, the study places Andalusia at the head of hiring for these dates of offers with 6,070 new employees (16 % less), followed by Catalonia (5,430 signatures; 18 % less) and Madrid (4,650; 16.9 % less).

Between these three regions alone, they will account for 48.3% of all the signings that will take place in Spain at the end of November.

The profiles most in demand by logistics companies will be packers, forklift operators, warehouse workers and transporters, while commerce will be most interested in sales assistants, promoters, hostesses and people with a commercial profile.

However, Randstad believes that both “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” “will mark the prelude to a Christmas campaign that could be very positive”.

Logistics to handle 5.3 per cent fewer shipments for Black Friday and Christmas

Logistics and transport companies will handle 5.3% fewer shipments to meet the peaks in demand that will be recorded during Black Friday and the Christmas campaign compared to 2021, according to forecasts by the Logistics and Transport Business Organisation (UNO).

During this period, around 100.30 million shipments will be handled, a more moderate figure than that recorded last year, when 106 million shipments were handled.

The president of the employers’ association, Francisco Aranda, explained this Wednesday during the conference on logistics held at Ifema that this decrease is due to the “economic problems that our country has been facing over the last year”.

Aranda pointed to the high price of energy and raw material costs, the inflationary spiral, the contraction in consumption and the reduction in the purchasing power of families, as well as the fall in investments “that have already been felt” in the sector as the main causes.

In this sense, UNO recalls that logistics activity fell by 16% in the second quarter of the year.

“This situation,” Aranda insisted, “will have a direct impact on this year’s major peak demand campaigns.

Companies will manage, according to UNO, an average of 3.5 million shipments per day, which will reach 4.7 million during the peak days that will be recorded during the week following Black Friday (25 to 27 November), the week after Cyber Monday and the week before Christmas.

Employment also points to a slowdown during these dates “as a result of inflation and the tax burden on companies”, the employers’ association said.

Raise the second hand

Aranda explained that this year second-hand shopping platforms are expected to grow, as well as the search for bargains on essential consumer goods, the possibility of flexible financing and more advance purchases with offers.

Consumers, said Aranda, “want to look for the best price before prices go up, taking advantage of the sales boost”.

Christmas spending will fall by 900 million, 14% less than in 2021

Spanish users will reduce their Christmas shopping this year by 14% compared to the same holiday last year, which translates overall into about 900 million euros less, according to a report by logistics solutions company Packlink.

The study, based on a survey of more than 8,000 users in Spain and seven other European countries, indicates that one out of every four consumers points to inflation as the main reason for holding back on Christmas spending.

After inflation, the main reasons for Spaniards to reduce spending are economic uncertainty (21.55% of respondents), insufficient savings (16.49%), lack of available credit (9.72%), loss of profits (9.53%) and rising interest rates (6.58%).

Packlink’s Marketing Director, Noelia Lázaro, describes it as “logical” that one of the first measures taken by European consumers is to opt for savings to alleviate price rises.

However, she adds that the sector “remains optimistic in terms of sales volume and activity”.

The study also reveals that high season periods in the retail sector, such as “Black Friday” or Christmas, “are facing a complex situation marked mainly by socio-economic uncertainty”.

Spain, according to the report, will be one of the countries that will reduce its spending the most over the coming dates, below the United Kingdom (22 % less) and above Italy (12.3 %), France (11.5 %) and Germany (9.4 %).

By product category, those most at risk of spending cuts in Spain are, in this order, fashion (26.7 % less), toys (20.4 %), DIY and gardening (19.6 %), health and beauty products (18 %), household products (16.8 %) and, lastly, electronics (16.8 %).

Lázaro stresses that inflation “is causing users to slow down their consumption and suppliers’ profits”.

Small and medium-sized companies “are already taking action through promotions and betting on optimising their available resources and services”, he stresses.

In fact, the 226 retailers interviewed point out that many companies have already decided to take measures to mitigate costs.

Some of these measures range from increasing shipping costs (34.7%) and changing delivery times (26.2%), to increasing promotions (18.1%), eliminating free returns (10.1%) or increasing staff numbers (3.3%).