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No discounts! Bike shops boycott Black Friday as majority of independent bike shops 'believe event negatively impacts their businesses'Bike shop (Credit: Manny Becerra via Unsplash)

No discounts! Bike shops boycott Black Friday as majority of independent bike shops 'believe event negatively impacts their businesses'

Association of Cycle Traders reports 69% of independent bike shops to avoid Black Friday discounts as local businesses "caught between rising operational costs and the pressure to match unsustainable online discounts"...
by Dan Alexander
Tue, Nov 26, 2024 15:08
8

Most independent cycle retailers in the United Kingdom are boycotting Black Friday this year, according to a survey by the Association of Cycle Traders, with 82 per cent believing that the sales event negatively impacts independent businesses.

The cycle trade association surveyed bike shops and reported that 69 per cent of independent cycle businesses will resist the discounts this week, many reporting being unable to compete with major retailers and already at the limit with rising costs and economic pressures.

Local Bike Shop in London (copyright Simon MacMichael)

Of the ACT's membership, 82.35 per cent said they believe that Black Friday negatively impacts independent businesses, around seven per cent higher than the retail sector average of 75.4 per cent. The results are in line with a broader national survey, run by the ACT's parent company Bira, which found that 70.5 per cent of independent retailers are boycotting Black Friday this year.

ACT Director Jonathan Harrison said local bike shops are "caught between rising operational costs and the pressure to match unsustainable online discounts" and don't want to take part in the "race to the bottom".

"Our members are sending a clear message about the unsustainability of Black Friday discounting in the cycle trade," he said. "Many report that the event disrupts normal trading patterns, with shops experiencing quiet periods in October and November as customers delay purchases in anticipation of Black Friday deals.

"We're seeing local bike shops caught between rising operational costs and the pressure to match unsustainable online discounts. Our members are choosing to focus on providing year-round value, expert service, and sustainable business practices rather than engaging in what one retailer described as 'a race to the bottom.'"

Other retailers told the trade organisation that their prices are "already at rock bottom" and there is no way for independents to compete with the larger retailers' buying power.

"Bike shops now go quiet in October and November because of Black Friday with an expectation of heavy discounting," one member commented.

Andrew Goodacre, Bira Group's CEO added: "This unified stance against Black Friday discounting reflects a broader trend we're seeing across the independent retail sector. The recent autumn budget announcements, including increased staffing costs, have only reinforced the resolve of independent retailers to resist unsustainable discounting practices."

On the subject of the Budget, 90 per cent of cycle traders asked said it had not changed their view on Black Friday, the ACT reporting one respondent accused the Budget of having "rang the death knell of many businesses with National Insurance, minimum wage and business rates hikes".

black friday
Association of Cycle Traders
Independent bike shops
Dan Alexander

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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8 comments

Avatar
Geoff H | 12 hours ago
0 likes

ALERT!!! SAVE 100%!!! Stay home!

Avatar
Simon E | 1 day ago
2 likes

It used to be called Buy Nothing Day as a protest against the the Black Friday discounting madness. The constant BF adverts, promos and stuff shoved in my face everywhere I turn pisses me off even more while the discounts suggest to the public that the full prices are a ripoff, even if that's not true.

While I support the retail sector on this I'm a little disappointed to see the comment that the minimum wage rise is going to contribute to killing their business. If they consider their hard working staff to be just a crippling cost and resent them getting the absolute minimum legal wage (currently £11.44, rising to £12.21 per hour in April 2025) then they don't deserve to have decent people either as staff or customers. Pay a fair wage or STFU and do the job yourselves - for £11.44 per hour and not a penny more, Scrooge.

Avatar
galibiervelo | 2 days ago
3 likes

We promote #bikefriday  You dont need it - go for a spin. Nice bikes and kit are lovely, but not as noice as a dawn spin this friday morning with a pal for coffee. Log out- click in this friday. 

Avatar
S.E. | 2 days ago
0 likes

Even online-shops offer very limited discounts... I waited for this week to get a 10-25% but nothing on the articles I need.

Best strategy seems to look at several resellers, and wait until someone lower their prices

Avatar
wtjs | 3 days ago
0 likes

I bought the excellent Edge 1040 last year with a good, but not sensational, reduction, and this year I have bought a couple of expensive academic e-books (like e-bikes, but better and more climate-friendly) at a mere 25% discount, but I won't be getting anything on Friday

Avatar
brooksby | 3 days ago
2 likes

I don't see any problems with this.

BF is just a US import anyway, hardly a long standing tradition in the UK.

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

Quote:

In the United Kingdom, the term "Black Friday" originated within the Police and NHS to refer to the Friday before Christmas. It is the day when emergency services activate contingency plans to cope with the increase in workload due to many people going out drinking on the last Friday before Christmas. Contingencies can include setting up mobile field hospitals near City Centre nightspots. The term has then been adopted outside those services to refer to the evening and night of the Friday immediately before Christmas, and would now be considered a mainstream term and not simply as jargon of the emergency services.

Traditionally, Boxing Day had been considered the biggest shopping day of the year in the UK. In the 2010s, several American-owned retailers such as Amazon UK and the Walmart-owned chain Asda, began to hold U.S.-style Black Friday promotions; in 2014, more British retailers began to adopt the concept, including Argos, John Lewis, and Very. 

and

Quote:

In Welsh, Black Friday is known as 'Dydd Gwener y Gwario Gwirion' (Silly Spending Friday).

Avatar
Sriracha replied to brooksby | 3 days ago
7 likes

Lidl have a window poster emblazoned, "Black Friday. Starts Sunday".

Avatar
Bmblbzzz replied to Sriracha | 13 hours ago
1 like

I honestly thought Black Friday was last week, simply because of the number of emails I was receiving about it. I delete them all without opening.

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