Jim Armitage: Black Friday isn't the key to retail's happy Christmas
With Christmas and that undignified US import, Black Friday, looming large, investors may have been worried by the fall in the October retail sales data.
For, as the boss of Poundland says, the forthcoming festive season is more important than ever for our retailers.
Will they slash their own throats again by cutting prices on the dark day of 27 November, or will they hold their nerve until Christmas Day?
I reckon the latter. Black Friday will be less of a riot-fest than last year; big stores have recognised the folly of disrupting their operations a month before the real battle for shoppers’ pounds begins.
As for Christmas, with employment and wages on the up, and the economy trundling along nicely, it doesn’t feel like shoppers are so skint they’ll need massive discounting to open their wallets.
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And away from all that macro-economy stuff, it’s finally getting seriously cold outside, pushing shoppers towards buying their winter togs at last.
That wasn’t true in October, when clothes and department stores suffered.
For retailers, it’ll be a fairly happy Christmas.