Editing Black Friday (shopping) (section)

=== United Kingdom ===

{{See also|Boxing Day#Shopping}}

In the United Kingdom, the term "[[Mad Friday|Black Friday]]" originated within the Police and [[National Health Service|NHS]] to refer to the Friday before Christmas. It is the day when emergency services activate contingency plans to cope with the increase in workload due to many people going out drinking on the last Friday before Christmas. Contingencies can include setting up mobile field hospitals near City Centre nightspots.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/8962991/Field-hospital-set-up-for-Cardiffs-black-Friday-revellers.html|title=Field hospital set up for Cardiff's 'black Friday' revellers|first=Adam|last=Smith|date=December 17, 2011|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref> The term has then been adopted outside those services to refer to the evening and night of the Friday immediately before Christmas, and would now be considered a mainstream term and not simply as jargon of the emergency services.

Since the start of the 21st century, there have been attempts by retailers with origins in the United States such as [[Amazon.com|Amazon]] to introduce a retail "Black Friday" as it would be understood by Americans, into the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=5493 |work= Blu-Ray.com |title= Amazon Brings Black Friday to the UK |date= November 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.engadget.com/2010/11/25/apples-australian-store-discounts-everything-by-around-10-perce/ |work= Engadget |title= Apple's Australian Store Discounts Most Things by Around 10 Percent, Foreshadows Black Friday Deals |date= November 25, 2010}}</ref> In 2013 [[Asda]] (a subsidiary of the American firm [[Walmart]]) announced its "Walmart's Black Friday by ASDA" campaign promoting the American concept of a retail "Black Friday" in the UK. Some online and in-shop companies have adopted the American-style Black Friday sale day, although others appear sceptical, with one 2013 comment piece in the trade publication ''[[Retail Week]]'' labelling it "simply an [[Americanization|Americanism]], which doesn't translate very well."<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.retail-week.com/multichannel/online-retail/comment-why-we-should-ignore-black-friday-in-the-uk/5055304.article |title= Comment: Why We Should Ignore Black Friday in the UK |work= Retail Week}}</ref>

In 2014, more UK-based retailers adopted the Black Friday marketing scheme than ever. Among them were ao.com, [[Very (online retailer)|very.co.uk]], [[John Lewis (department store)|John Lewis]] and [[Argos (retailer)|Argos]], who all offered discounted prices to entice Christmas shoppers. During Black Friday sales in 2014, police forces were called to shops across Britain to deal with crowd control issues, assaults, threatening customers and traffic issues.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30241459 |title= 'Black Friday': Police Called to Supermarket Crowds |date= November 28, 2014 |work= BBC News}}</ref> Sir [[Peter Fahy]], Chief Constable of [[Greater Manchester Police]], stated: "The events of last night were totally predictable and I am disappointed that stores did not have sufficient security staff on duty."<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/black-friday-uk-the-shops-hit-by-chaos-and-violence-as-shopping-frenzy-sweeps-country-9890230.html |title= Black Friday UK: The Shops Hit by Chaos and Violence as Shopping Frenzy Sweeps Country |first= Lizzie |last= Dearden |work= The Independent |location= London |date= November 28, 2014}}</ref> In response to incidents at branches of Tesco, Greater Manchester Police's deputy chief constable [[Ian Hopkins]] said shoppers had behaved in an "appalling" fashion and the lack of planning from retailers was "really disappointing": "They should have planned appropriately with appropriate levels of security to make sure people were safe. They have primary responsibility to keep people safe and they can't rely on the police to turn up and bail them out and that's what happened last night."<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11261470/Chaos-and-violence-marrs-Black-Friday-across-country.html |title= Chaos and Violence {{Sic|Marrs|nolink=y}} Black Friday Across Country |date= November 28, 2014 |first= Rosa |last= Silverman |work= The Telegraph |location= London }}</ref>

Asda announced that it would not take part in the 2015 Black Friday.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34774289 |title= Asda to Shun Black Friday Sales |date= November 10, 2015 |work= BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |url= http://your.asda.com/press-centre/asda-steps-away-from-tradition-and-gives-2015-christmas-campaign-a-fresh-modern-festive-twist |title= Asda Steps Away from Tradition and Gives 2015 Christmas Campaign a Fresh, Modern Festive Twist |date= November 1, 2015 |publisher= Asda }}</ref> In 2015, Black Friday was predicted to become the biggest day of shopping in Britain, with as much as £2bn spent in shops and online in 24 hours.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/26/what-is-black-friday-biggest-uk-shopping-day|title=What is Black Friday and who's to blame for it?|date=November 27, 2015|work=Guardian|accessdate=November 27, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/26/cold-wet-day-may-divert-uks-black-friday-rush-online|title=UK retailers brace for online onslaught of Black Friday shoppers|date=November 27, 2015|work=Guardian|accessdate=November 27, 2015}}</ref> However, many large retailers have discontinued, downplayed or heavily modified the concept since 2014, sometimes citing disruption to Christmas trading patterns or bad publicity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14914491.Bicester_Village___39_will_not_take_part__39__in_Black_Friday/|title=Bicester Village 'will not take part' in Black Friday'|date=November 18, 2016|work=Oxford Mail|accessdate=November 18, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34931299|title=Black Friday: Responding to last year's mayhem|date=26 November 2015|work=BBC|accessdate=November 18, 2016}}</ref>

Black Friday appears to be growing in popularity year on year in the UK. In 2016, total spending on online retail sites on Black Friday 2016 was £1.23bn, marking a +12.2% increase on the £1.1bn spent on the same day in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.netimperative.com/2016/12/black-friday-uk-stats-12-increase-last-year-lower-forecast/|title=Black Friday UK stats: 12% increase on last year (but lower than forecast)|date=December 1, 2016|work=Net Imperative}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/business-38066228/how-black-friday-came-to-the-uk|title=How Black Friday came to the UK|website=BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-11-21}}</ref> In 2017, retail sales in the UK grew faster in November than in December for the first time.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46260739|title=Have eight years of Black Friday changed the UK?|last=Jones|first=Lora|date=2018-11-21|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-11-21|language=en-GB}}</ref>