Black Friday and Cyber Monday chaos: Shoppers say retailers can't cope with the sales rush

22 November 2016, London - 43% of consumers who made purchases on Black Friday or Cyber Monday don’t think that online retailers can cope with the influx of orders, according to new research released today from online review platform Trustpilot.

The research also revealed one in five (21%) consumers have had a bad experience when shopping on Black Friday or Cyber Monday while almost a quarter (24%) said customer service fell below their expectations. Disgruntled shoppers were also quick to share these experiences online, as negative reviews on Black Friday 2015 accounted for more than one in ten (10.55%) reviews on Trustpilot, compared to just one in 20 (5.37%) the day before.  The number of negative reviews continues to be high, right through the Christmas season, before dropping in the New Year.

With this in mind, those that are planning to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday this year will be adopting a more vigilant approach as over a half of shoppers (52%) plan to do more research around items than in previous years to avoid unreliable retailers. A total of 78% said they are most likely to shop with a company who they trust and has good customer feedback.

As a result, customers will be spending plenty of time researching products and retailers and will spend 21 minutes researching a product worth up to £50 or almost an hour for something costing up to £250.

The time Britain’s shoppers will spend researching ahead of Black Friday / Cyber Monday this year:

James Westlake, UK Country Manager of Trustpilot, said: “Black Friday and Cyber Monday present a great opportunity for retailers with UK shoppers predicted to spend £5 billion during Black Friday alone. However, with many potential quick wins up for grabs, it’s often all too easy for retailers to forget about delivering quality customer service in line with the increase in demand.

“It’s important therefore to prioritise your customers by making sure customer service is up to scratch and that business are proactively collecting their feedback, addressing any issues as they occur and looking out for any potential patterns in complaints that are arising.

“Our research highlights that over three quarters of consumers are most likely to shop with a retailer they trust with good customer feedback. It’ll be those retailers that listen, engage and prioritise this Black Friday and Cyber Monday that will really succeed, as they foster long term, trusting relationships going forward.”