While global retail sales have plummeted due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been concerns that this year’s Black Friday might not go ahead as planned. Black Friday is the fourth Friday in November and the Friday which follows Thanksgiving Day in the United States. It is traditionally a day when Christmas shopping begins with many outlets holding sales with goods at reduced prices or limited edition items which are only available on the day.

2020 Black Friday is on 27 November

In spite of the Coronavirus crisis, Black Friday will be going ahead this year on Friday 27 November with Cyber Monday following a couple of days later on 30 November so many retailers will have offers during the whole weekend. Music lovers won’t be left out as there will also be exclusive Record Store Day releases available on Black Friday. However the event will be different this year as many consumers have kept away from the high street so footfall levels remain way down and many shops remain closed. Also, we have only just recently had Amazon Prime Day which was moved from July to mid-October as a consequence of the Covid-19 crisis.

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Amazon Black Friday sale started on 26 October

Amazon meanwhile has decided to get ahead of the game and already launched its Black Friday sales a whole month ahead of the official event.

While many shoppers are reluctant to return to the high street, online sales are predicted to surge and could reach record levels. It is expected that in the United States, consumers will spend around $50 billion on Black Friday, while in the UK where the event is still a relative new occurrence, that figure will be much lower, an estimated 6-7 billion pounds will be spent.