Black Friday’s Impact: Contrasting Perspectives from Amazon and Independent Retailers

On the outskirts of Manchester, Amazon’s large warehouse sees men, women, and robots collaborating to manage the substantial increase in orders that Black Friday consistently generates. Meanwhile, a short distance away in the city centre, employees at the independent retail hub Afflecks prepare for a decrease in sales. These two establishments operate within the same retail environment, yet some observers express concern that this system has grown significantly disproportionate. This raises the question of how smaller retailers manage in a market where a single entity, Amazon, needs to hire an additional 2,000 employees throughout the north-west of England solely to meet consumer demand. Megan Price, a retailer at Afflecks, states that small independent vendors experience a decline in business because they “just cannot compete.” Ms. Price belongs to Swalk Creative, a group of artists based in Manchester who offer their artwork at reasonable prices within the market. She explains, “We’re trying to offer value and affordability year round,” but notes the difficulty in competing “when these massive companies are able to offer such enormous discounts.” Erin Taylor-Thomas, who owns the second-hand clothing shop Beg Steal and Borrow, also views Black Friday with concern. She commented, “We already have low prices, so dropping it any lowers would just mean that we wouldn’t make enough money to sustain what we’ve created here.” Furthermore, Ms. Taylor-Thomas believes that when consumers are attracted to online sales, the “connection of gift-giving, being connected to people, and that experience” is diminished. At the Amazon warehouse in Altrincham, a constant buzz of activity is present. Cole McGrath, responsible for maintaining the robots, referred to as drives, anticipates operations will be “much busier” as the shopping rush reaches its highest point. He stated, “It’s definitely much busier on Black Friday, but there are no more or less issues; you can see a lot more movements in the warehouse, but the robots are doing their job.” This raises questions about the origin of the products these drives transport across the warehouse floor and the ultimate destination of the funds consumers spend on them. Amazon reports that over half of its product sales within the UK originate from what it terms “independent selling partners,” predominantly small to medium-sized enterprises. The company estimates that approximately 100,000 such businesses currently sell via its platform. Neil Travis, Amazon’s north west regional director, asserts that there is indeed room for both the vast online retailer and independent merchants. He mentioned that 65% of the goods processed at the Altrincham warehouse are supplied by small to medium businesses in the UK, with more than 11,5000 sellers located in the north west of England. For further content, listeners can access the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and connect with BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Story suggestions can also be submitted to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk and through Whatsapp at 0808 100 2230. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding its approach to external linking is available.