Black Friday 2024 goes down a storm in the UK as discount hungry Brits splurge £1.12 billion online

Research from Adobe shows that this Black Friday was the biggest single online shopping day of 2024 in the UK. 

Brits spent £1.12 billion online, up 7.2% and £75 million above the £1.04 splashed out on Black Friday 2023), as they sought to take advantage of the deep discounts on offer in the run up to Christmas and make their budgets stretch as far as possible.  

The Adobe Digital Insights team used Adobe Analytics to analyse hundreds of millions of visits to retail sites from UK consumers on Black Friday, tracking the prices of 100 million SKUs across 18 product categories.

Vivek Pandya, Lead Analyst, Adobe Digital Insights, comments: “With UK online Black Friday spending topping £1 billion this year, it’s clear that this remains a hugely important date in the diary, both for retailers looking to boost their sales, and for increasingly price sensitive consumers who are  looking to these deep discounting days as a great opportunity to secure a bargain and make their money go further.”  

Click and Collect, London, BNPL and Gen AI

Click and Collect was used in 9.7% of orders on Black Friday (for retailers who offer the service). This was up from 8% on last year’s event and represents 21.3% growth in utilisation of the service. 

In London, meanwhile, total online spending hit £271.8 million – up 8.3% year-over-year. London spending increased to approximately 24.3% share of total spending, from approximately 22.5% share in 2023.

Buy now, pay later spend in London reached £28.5 million, up 17.3% from last year's £24.3 million.

Finally, traffic referred to retail sites from generative AI sources has skyrocketed this year – rising tenfold between July and September. On Black Friday, GenAI referrals surged even further, 239% above October levels as consumers turn to the tool for recommendations and help finding the best prices.

2024 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Online retail was a key focus area for the sixth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards, sponsored by Vista Technology Support, Scala, CADS, 3D Cloud, Brightpearl by Sage’s Lightning 50, Business France, and Retail Technology Show 2025, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended our 21st November gathering.