Black Friday is on 27 November, three weeks away. Last week, the market was holding fire: just 8.3% of Google Shopping listings were on sale, the joint lowest in our data. This week, some of the biggest retailers started to move.
As always, we recorded every Google Shopping result for the same 11,378 searches: about 590,000 listings, across 33 industries.
The biggest rise in our data
In the week commencing 2 November, 9.1% of Google Shopping listings were on sale, up from 8.3% the week before. That's the biggest week-on-week rise in our eleven weeks of data.
In real terms, shoppers could see about 53,500 sale listings this week, against 48,900 last week: 9% more. That's still below a month ago (9.9% in w/c 5 October) and well below the 13.1% of late August, so it's a start rather than a surge.
Discounts are steady. The average sale listing is 20.5% off its usual price, against 20.2% last week.
| Week commencing | Listings on sale | Average discount |
|---|---|---|
| 24 August | 13.1% | 21.2% |
| 31 August | 11.9% | 21.0% |
| 7 September | 11.1% | 20.9% |
| 14 September | 11.0% | 21.0% |
| 21 September | 10.8% | 21.3% |
| 28 September | 11.2% | 21.4% |
| 5 October | 9.9% | 21.6% |
| 12 October | 8.3% | 20.4% |
| 19 October | 8.7% | 19.8% |
| 26 October | 8.3% | 20.2% |
| 2 November | 9.1% | 20.5% |
Electricals and DIY break cover
Last week we said to watch for Currys, Argos and Amazon. Two of the three moved:
- Currys went from 15.2% to 24.6% of its listings on sale, right back to where it was a month ago.
- Argos more than doubled, from 6.3% to 13.5%. With nearly 20,000 listings, that's a big shift.
- Amazon barely changed, at 10.1% against 10.4%.
The surprise was B&Q. It went from 2.2% to 10.6%, nearly five times the week before. With almost 24,000 listings, it's one of the biggest retailers we track, so that's a lot of new sale prices in a single week.
The early movers come back
The retailers that eased off last week are discounting hard again:
- Wayfair went from 28.8% to 42.2%, back at the top of our list. It was at 51.1% a month ago.
- Very went from 21.0% to 31.1%.
- Boots went from 20.8% to 28.2%, higher than a month ago (24.8%).
Two retailers went the other way. Dunelm, which had more than doubled its share on sale over the month to last week, dropped from 15.2% to 3.5%. And Matalan eased from 31.5% to 26.0% after last week's jump, though it's still the fourth most discounted big retailer we track. John Lewis slipped from 13.6% to 10.6%.
Gaming and appliances lead the categories
Most categories rose this week. The biggest moves were in categories that matter on Black Friday:
- Gaming went from 9.2% to 12.3%.
- Appliances went from 7.9% to 10.8%, after last week's low.
- Furniture & Home went from 10.0% to 12.6%, and Seasonal from 8.3% to 10.5%.
- Mattresses & Sleep is now the most discounted big category, at 12.7%, up from 9.4% a month ago.
Electronics only edged up, from 7.7% to 8.3%, and Toys & Games fell from 6.3% to 5.8%. Jewellery & Watches (8.3% to 6.9%) and Luxury Goods (8.3% to 7.3%) had the biggest falls.
Against a month ago, most big categories are still lower. Kitchenware has fallen furthest, from 12.5% to 7.7%.
What to watch next week
- Does the rise hold? One week up isn't a trend. If the share on sale climbs again, Black Friday on Google Shopping has started.
- Electronics and toys. Both are still low, at 8.3% and 5.8%, even as Currys and Argos move. Watch Amazon and the toy specialists.
- B&Q and Argos. Both jumped from low levels this week. Is this a Black Friday sale starting early, or a short promotion?
We'll be back next week with the new numbers. To see any retailer's promotions week by week, search for it in Merchant Visibility.
How we measure this
Each week, Merchant Visibility records every Google Shopping result for the same 11,378 searches, across 33 industries: about 590,000 listings a week. A listing counts as on sale when Google shows it with a sale price, and its discount is how far that sale price sits below the usual one.
Changes compare the week commencing 2 November with the week before (w/c 26 October) and with four weeks earlier (w/c 5 October). Retailers are only ranked if they had at least 1,500 Shopping listings both this week and four weeks ago. Within the tool, on-sale figures count each product once, across both Shopping results and the product cards in Google's main results, so they can read a little differently from the listing counts here.
