Big brands such as Tesco, John Lewis, Morrison’s, Argos and Sainsbury’s have confirmed they will be taking part in Black Friday
(Telegraph.co.uk) November/10/2015 - Police chiefs have urged stores to cancel Black Friday after Asda became the first retailer in the UK to abandon the one-day sales event.
Britain’s leading retailers faced criticism from shoppers, MPs and the police after last year’s flash sale descended into chaos.
The websites for Tesco, John Lewis, Currys and Argos all crashed and officers were called to supermarkets across the UK as shoppers fought for discounted products.
Asda, credited with introducing the event to the UK in 2013, announced it would not be part of Black Friday 2015 due to “shopper fatigue”.
The store, owned by Walmart, said customer feedback was behind its decision to invest in £26 million of savings for consumers across the season rather than a one-off day of sales.
But big brands such as Tesco, John Lewis, Morrisons, Argos and Sainsbury’s have confirmed they will be taking part in Black Friday, which falls on November 27.
And the National Police Chiefs’ Council's Business and Retail Crime unit has written to retailers, urging store managers to reconsider the disorder that comes with a one-day sale.
Deputy Chief Constable Sue Fish, from the NPCC, called to extend the sales period to a week-long event and cancel the Friday pandemonium.
“The police will intervene if necessary to protect public order and safety,” she said. “But we should be the service of last resort, not a substitute for carefully-considered in-store security plans.
“Having to deploy officers to deal with the fallout of highly-marketed but under-staffed sales in shops diverts valuable resources from other areas of policing and is in most cases avoidable through advance planning.
"I would encourage marketing departments to make store security staff and any business crime partnerships they may be members of aware of any changes in opening times designed to extend sales periods.
“I would also encourage stores to consider, as I know some retailers are, extending the Black Friday period to commence on November 23 rather than just the Friday of that week, thereby allowing Christmas shoppers an extended opportunity to avail themselves of the bargains.
“I have written to retailers to reinforce these points.”
In a call for a nationwide boycott earlier this year, two MPs argued that Black Friday should never happen again in Britain.
The event in 2014 led to "scenes of disorder" and placed "unnecessarily high demands" on police resources, according to Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland and Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley.
In January, they urged support from the rest of the Commons, tabling a motion that criticised retailers that "chose to adopt the American retail custom”. (FULL TEXT)
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