Nerves jangle on whether tills will still jingle for Black Friday

RETAILERS will be keeping their fingers crossed that tomorrow will not be a bleak Friday as the now traditional discounting bonanza kick-starts the Christmas spending frenzy.

- Rhiannon Curry

Black Friday, which started off as an American import introduced to the UK market by Amazon way back in 2010, has grown year-on-year to become a key barometer of retailers' seasonal performance.

But with consumer confidence at historic lows and companies increasingly under pressure from sky-high energy bills and the rising cost of raw materials, this could be the toughest Black Friday in years.

Sales forecasting by IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index, which tracks the online sales performance of more than 200 retailers, suggests 2022's figures will be down 5% year-on-year.

Clothing will be the highest underperforming group, the research suggests, while home and garden is showing the best outlook on last year's figures although even this will be down.

Other forecasters predict the outcome could be even worse, as retailers are forced into higher discounting to counteract slower sales in the past few months but in doing so risk squeezing margins even further.