Shoppers go mad for Black Friday at Asda

The Leeds-based grocer said the US tradition of slashing prices on the day after Thanksgiving struck a chord with shoppers who were keen to snap up a bargain ahead of Christmas.

Black Friday is the latest sales craze to be imported from the US.

It traditionally marks the start of Christmas shopping for Americans and has a similar status to the Boxing Day sales in the UK.

Unlike the US, where violence is a common occurrence as shoppers fight over bargains, there was relatively little disturbance in the UK. One man was arrested in Bristol when he was told he could only buy one cut-price television.

Asda’s head of electronics Ayaz Alam said: “Black Friday was a massive success for us. We’ve been working with Wal-Mart (Asda’s US parent company) and the leverage we’ve got has really helped us. We were the first retailer of any real size to do Black Friday instore.”

Over two thirds (70 per cent) of the Black Friday electronic goods were sourced from Wal-Mart.

“We sold a month’s worth of TVs in under two hours,” said Mr Alam.

“Over the next few years Black Friday will become the busiest day in the run-up to Christmas.”

He added that there are plans to increase security next year to avoid fights breaking out. Asda’s chief executive Andy Clarke said: “Black Friday was a real eye opener for us. It was phenomenal and we were delighted. We can see it as a way of life.”

Mr Alam added that electronics sales were up 400 per cent year on year in Black Friday week.

Originally, Asda was planning for the sales to last all weekend, but stock flew off the shelves in the first few hours.

Looking forward to 2014, Mr Clarke said that Asda’s biggest challenge is to communicate the quality of its products, not just the low prices.

“We’ve been known as a price-led retailer since the 1970s and that won’t change, but we want people to think about the products we sell as well,” he said

“The breadth of the awards we’ve won is positive affirmation of the quality. We offer great quality products at fantastic prices.”

Margaret McSorley Walker, Asda’s head of food innovation, said 500 new and improved food lines have been introduced for Christmas and they have won over 300 awards.

One of its best sellers this year are crumpets shaped like Christmas trees and it is selling 90,000 packages a week.

“We normally sell 13,000 crumpets a week,” said Ms McSorley Walker. “Grannies, mums, kids, teenagers – everyone loves our Christmas tree crumpets. When the kids are all excited on Christmas Day morning, mums know they can get some food inside them.”

A popular alternative to Christmas pudding is the retailer’s £4 Chocolate and Cointreau Bombe which has won numerous awards.

Other best sellers include a new range of £5 chickens which come in a roasting bag in eight flavours including sage and onion and tikka.

Mr Clarke said the plan next year is to extend this to turkeys to take the stress out of Christmas Day.

Asda is also keen to promote its wine range, which has won 240 awards in the big three international wine competitions.

Philippa Carr, Asda’s master of wine, has overseen the Christmas range and helped to blend the group’s double silver winning Extra Special Barbera red wine, which is her choice to accompany Christmas dinner.

The group’s George clothing range reported a 10 per cent rise in sales of ladieswear, while party outfits are up six per cent and mens and kidswear are both up by two per cent.

Head of design at George, Helen Low, said: “Novelty, fun and festive have worked really well.

“Our customers love humour. A third of sales have been novelty jumpers. We’ve sold 10 million Christmas jumpers.”

Asda said it is set to sell three million onesies (babygros for adults) this Christmas.

The start of a tradition

Black Friday is held on the day after Thanksgiving, which occurs on the fourth Thursday in November.

Its first use is thought to have occurred in Philadelphia in the 1960s to describe the heavy traffic on the day after Thanksgiving.

Later it was said that the reference to black meant the retailer enjoyed going from the red (a loss) to the black (a profit) on Black Friday.

According to technology firm RedEye, more than 25 million UK consumers flocked to stores or online to spend an average £174 on Black Friday.