Retailers report a surge in online traffic as shoppers seek the best bargains on what has become one of the biggest shopping days of the year
Black Friday: how to make sure you have a bargain
Black Friday 2016: UK’s best deals and discounts
Flight and holiday deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
2.32pm GMT
appliancesdirect.co.uk says customers are taking advantage of Black Friday to make savings on big ticket items.
Since midnight it has sold more than 4,000 blenders, over 2,000 washing machines, and 1,000 4K HD televisions.
We anticipated strong sales, but the popularity in cut price home appliances this year has surpassed our expectations. Shoppers have taken full advantage of thousands of pounds of savings on big ticket items in anticipation of price rises in technology early next year as a result of the exchange rate changes following the referendum result.
1.56pm GMT
Amazon reported brisk online sales as a result of its latest deals, as part of its extended Black Friday sale which started on 14 November and with new offers launched every day since. The top deals running today include discounts on bestselling Alexa ‘hands-free’ devices Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, with Echo available for just £119.99, and Echo Dot available for just £39.99.
1.44pm GMT
Football clubs are embracing Black Friday, with many offering 20% off kit and other merchandise in their shops and online.
Leicester City, reigning Premier League champions, have got their own twist:
It's Blue Friday! Get 20% off all kit, in-store and online now! https://t.co/AVL24v51yo. #BlueFriday pic.twitter.com/CAMAZcmXfD
1.28pm GMT
Some more Black Friday stats, this time from Very.co.uk:
1.08pm GMT
Currys PC World says it had more than half a million visitors to its website before 6am.
The two most popular products have been the Google Chromecast and the JVC 32C660 32” Smart LED TV.
We’ve been preparing for today for almost a year now to ensure the best deals for our customers. We continue to break records with orders already up 40% year-on-year since 2015, and as we predicted, shoppers are making the most of our stores being open early, but also placing orders by mobile devices with our highest ever mobile traffic share since Black Friday began.
12.44pm GMT
Argos says its busiest hour so far was between 8am and 9am, when it received about 700,000 web visits (80% of which were on mobiles and tablets).
I’ve been here since 5.30am where there’s a sense of great calm and slick organisation despite this being the biggest and busiest day of the year for Argos.
With 800-plus staff on site during this peak week they’re expecting to pick over two million items and over 330,000 today. With business operating 24/7 the Barton distribution centre will process 15,000 parcels an hour alone.
12.31pm GMT
Not all retailers are slashing prices today, with some taking a different approach to the US-inspired discount day.
The Guardian’s Sarah Butler reports:
Outdoor brands Patagonia and Braintree, as well as fashion chain FatFace, will be donating proceeds from the day to charity while Jigsaw and Next have both announced they will not be offering discounts. Meanwhile Berghaus is encouraging its customers to head outdoors as an alternative to the shopping frenzy.
Patagonia will be donating its entire global sales income from its own website and stores on 25 November to 80 grassroots environmental organisations around the world, including Surfers against Sewage and London Waterkeeper in the UK.
Related: Black Friday alternatives in fashion as retailers give profits to charity
12.18pm GMT
It may be Black Friday but for some, it’s all about Giving Tuesday.
Giving Tuesday (this year on 29 November) began five years ago in the US as an antidote to the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
After the frenzy of festive consumerism, #givingtuesday is a day for everyone to ‘do good stuff’ for a cause they care about, whether that’s donating money, volunteering time or simply talking about their favourite charities.
Just like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #givingtuesday has now firmly established itself as a regular fixture in the festive calendar. It is great to see that even more people are planning to take some time over Christmas to give something back to a good cause.
12.07pm GMT
Shoppers heading into Poundland expecting some Black Friday bargains for less than £1 are in for a shock.
Poundland’s surprises include - for the first time - a range of products with price tags exceeding the standard £1. The discount retailer says it is the “perfect destination to snap up a bargain this Black Friday”, which include up to 65% on perfumes and fragrances, including a 50 ml bottle of Eau de Gaga which can be snapped up for just £8, compared with the RRP of £32.
11.39am GMT
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Markit, says the positive survey from the CBI suggests the economy is holding up in the fourth quarter, following growth of 0.5% in the third.
He does, however, add a note of caution:
A buoyant November CBI Distributive Trades survey points to consumers still splashing out in the fourth quarter, thereby boosting hopes that GDP growth will hold up well. Retailers will certainly be hoping that consumers’ willingness to spend holds up over the vital Christmas shopping period.
The major problem facing the economy – and retailers in particular - is that it looks inevitable that the fundamentals for consumers will progressively weaken over the coming months with inflation rising markedly due to the weakened pound and companies likely increasingly looking to hold down pay to limit their total costs. The labour market also looks likely to come under mounting pressure despite its current resilience.
11.20am GMT
Retail sales picked up pace in November and were stronger than expected according to the CBI’s latest snapshot.
Volumes increased at the fastest rate in more than a year in the 12 months to November, driven higher by sales of items including clothing, hardware and DIY.
With the later onset of cold weather, shoppers stocking up their winter wardrobe has helped to boost high street sales.
While we expect to see decent growth in the near term, retailers are keeping a close eye on price rises coming down the track and the impact on consumer spending.”
11.02am GMT
John Lewis says it has seen strong demand from shoppers so far today.
10.34am GMT
Back to Black Friday. Jo Causon, chief executive of the Institute of Customer Service, comments on how the event is changing:
Black Friday in its original form – the manic one-day, in-store shopping experience – has already changed significantly over the past three years.
We’re seeing the continuation of that evolution in 2016 with retailers extending their sales either side of Black Friday, and the term ‘Black Fiveday’ becoming more commonplace, as well as a continuation of the trend towards online.
10.28am GMT
Little movement in Europe’s major markets this morning.
With thin trading expected in the US following Thanksgiving, investors elsewhere appear to be taking a bit of a breather:
With US markets likely to be in a thin post-Thanksgiving mood there appears to be little in the way of positive drivers for European markets this morning.
This lack of interest has seen markets in Europe trading listlessly, weighed down on the one hand by weakness in the banking sector and a decline in oil prices ahead of next week’s OPEC meeting in Vienna.
10.15am GMT
James Knightley, senior UK economist at ING, says the second half of 2016 should prove rosy overall, but come 2017 the economy is likely to take a turn for the worse.
This is a firm growth story that again shows the economy has weathered the Brexit storm very well so far. The data flow so far suggests that the fourth quarter should also post a decent growth rate, but we still expect a substantial slowdown in 2017.
Our main concern relates to a squeeze on household spending power brought about by a sharp pick-up in inflation that isn’t matched by wage increases. We also expect a slowdown in hiring and investment by businesses as Brexit uncertainty kicks in and the political pressure rises once Article 50 is triggered.
Related: IFS warns of biggest squeeze on pay for 70 years over Brexit
10.10am GMT
Here is a breakdown of how different parts of the economy performed in the third quarter, compared with the second. It grew by 0.5% overall (and 2.3% annually).
9.43am GMT
Darren Morgan, head of GDP at the ONS, has commented on this morning’s second estimate of growth.
He makes the point that although business investment grew in Q3, most of those spending decisions will have been taken before the referendum, when the UK was expected to vote to remain in the EU:
Investment by businesses held up well in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum, though it’s likely most of those investment decisions were taken before polling day.
That, coupled with growing consumer spending fuelled by rising household income, and a strong performance in the dominant service industries, kept the economy expanding broadly in line with its historic average.”
Rising household incomes powering UK economy for now. Will this continue if predictions this wk of prolonged squeeze on wages prove correct? https://t.co/XpscSFzpN3
9.33am GMT
The Office for National Statistics has just published its second estimate of third-quarter growth, confirming a 0.5% increase in GDP.
Business investment grew more than expected, by 0.9% over the quarter compared with expectations of 0.6%. It was a slight dip compared with business investment growth of 1% in the second quarter.
9.21am GMT
Black Friday is also a thing in Brazil apparently.
Photo evidence from São Paulo:
9.04am GMT
In other news, we have a couple of bits of interesting data coming up in the UK this morning.
At 9.30 the Office for National Statistics will publish its second estimate of GDP in the third quarter. It is expected to confirm that the economy grew 0.5% between July and September, unchanged from the first estimate.
8.49am GMT
Nick Bubb, independent retail analyst, gives his view on Black Friday:
Well, it remains to be seen how busy the high street will be today, but the much-dreaded “Black Friday” sale promotions this week will undoubtedly pull a lot of business forward from December, at lower margins, and it’s tempting to agree with the comment to the BBC by Peter Ruis, the boss of fashion chain Jigsaw, that Black Friday is a “complete and utter deception”…
8.46am GMT
Here’s our latest news story:
Related: Online rush leaves high street stores peaceful on Black Friday
8.38am GMT
Retailers have shifted their approach to Black Friday since it arrived here in 2010 (thanks to Amazon).
This year many BF discounts are not single-day offers but promotions that spread over days and weeks, with a bigger focus online.
East London is home to the savviest shoppers, with the highest number of online transactions before breakfast, followed by Croydon and Birmingham.
Mobiles have been the most popular device for deal-hunters so far but PCA Predict expect this could change to desktops over the day as consumers head into work.
8.26am GMT
Back here in 2016, Black Friday appears to have moved online:
The madness of Black Friday in Harringay captured by @levenephoto pic.twitter.com/Z6odXWvSO4
First man to leave Sainsbury's on Black Friday is carrying ... three baguettes
Heading to the Westend in search of some Black Friday buzz..
8.24am GMT
My colleague Rupert Neate captured some of the madness of 2014 in this short video. Well worth a watch:
Related: Black Friday scuffles: 'I got a Dyson but I don’t even know if I want it'
8.17am GMT
Black Friday today is a far cry from the scenes we saw in stores in 2014, when there was an unseemly scramble for bargains such as televisions.
Here’s a reminder from two years ago:
*collective nostalgia for unseemly trampling incident in Asda Wembley* #blackfriday
8.11am GMT
Guardian reporters have been out and about since the early hours, joining the Black Friday bargain hunters.
7.59am GMT
We had about 20 folk here at Tesco. All very quiet now. #Black Friday looks set to be an online event again.
7.52am GMT
John Rogers, the new chief executive officer of Argos, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there had been 500,000 visits to the retailer’s website in the first hour of online trading between midnight and 1pm - up 50% on last year.
He expects peak traffic between 7am and 10am as people shop on their mobile phones on their way to work. Rogers - the former finance director at Sainsbury’s which has taken over the business - was speaking from Argos’s distribution warehouse in Burton-on-Trent, as part of a whistlestop ‘national tour’ of its stores and facilities in the run-up to Christmas.
7.46am GMT
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
Related: Britons expected to spend £1.3bn on Black Friday bargains
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