MPs move to cancel 'dangerous' Black Friday
MPs have called on retailers to cease promotions for Black Friday following the "scenes of disorder" at several stores last year.
Police were called to some supermarket stores to break up fights between bargain hungry shoppers.
Three MPs have criticised the large retailers who participate and argued that Black Friday is a waste of police time.
An early day motion, which puts forward issues to be discussed in the House of Commons, noted that "the huge discounts led to scenes of disorder in some stores as many police had to attend to prevent or break up fights in stores, whilst other stores were forced to close."
It urged fellow MPs to "recognise the importance of police time and the unnecessarily high demands that Black Friday is placing on it".
They called on all UK retailers not to mark this event in 2015 or again.
IMRG-Capgemini's annual analysis of Christmas retail sales was released yesterday.
It stated that the retail event might not even be that profitable, and instead of bringing in additional sales over the Christmas period it simply compresses what would be spent over the course of a number of weeks into four days.
Adgild Hop, principal, head of retail consulting at Capgemini, explained: “Black Friday was unquestionably a success for the value-seeking consumer, but for retailers themselves, its success is not quite as clear. As the Index reveals, spending was brought forward a month earlier, at much lower margins for retailers, as a result of the discounts available to customers in November.”
However, many retailers have had success.
Alex Baldock, chief executive at Shop Direct said: "We like Black Friday. It was huge for us and acted as a starting gun for Christmas shopping – peak came earlier than in recent years. Traders like ourselves will thrive in the environment that Black Friday creates and we’re happy that it’s here to stay.