Amazon customers around the world have been enjoying exclusive deals and incredible offers during our Black Friday Week sale.
This year, we were also delighted to provide further support for small businesses on Black Friday. In fact, Amazon customers around the world made this Black Friday and Cyber Monday the best-ever for independent businesses in our stores - most of which are small and medium-sized businesses - with worldwide sales growing over 60% year-over-year. At the same time, our team delivered daily episodes of Black Friday Live to offer customers a free way to enjoy workshops and entertainment at home from some of the UK’s most loved celebrities.
John Boumphrey, UK Country Manager for Amazon, said: “It’s been a challenging year for both families and businesses alike, so we made it even easier for our customers to shop great deals and gifts while supporting small businesses this Black Friday and beyond. In fact, so far this year on average, UK customers purchased more than 1,200 items per minute from third-party selling partners on Amazon, most of which are small and medium-sized businesses.”
This will give us a much-needed boost as a small business.
In the UK, the best-selling categories from small and medium businesses included:
- Home
- Toys
- DIY
- Apparel
Supporting small business
Amazon made it easy for customers to support small businesses this Black Friday with the launch of a new Small Business Gift Finder and dedicated small business deals page. This meant that, for the first time on Amazon, customers could browse present ideas exclusively from hundreds of small businesses across the UK during Black Friday week.
We also improved the Small Business Storefront at www.amazon.co.uk/supportsmall, making it easier for customers to discover products from local businesses, as well as shop by categories including Toys & Games, Home & Kitchen and Electronics in just a few clicks.
Small businesses owners who sell through Amazon tell us how Black Friday helped them this year.
We love imagining the hilarious experiences that all our Black Friday customers are going to have with their friends and family when their games arrive.
Yousaf Sekander, Managing Director of independent skincare brand Procoal, said: “We’ve experienced a significant surge of sales leading up to Black Friday on Amazon and we are on track to beat internal forecasts – this will give us a much-needed boost as a small business.”
“Black Friday is always an exciting time for us as a small business,” adds Hazel Reynolds, Co-Founder of Gamely Games in Brighton. “We love imagining the hilarious experiences that all our Black Friday customers are going to have with their friends and family when their games arrive. Our games have proved hugely successful during both lockdowns – sales have doubled so far this year – and we hope they will continue to bring people joy, laughter and happy memories this Christmas.”
Tens of thousands of UK-based small and medium-sized businesses sell their products in Amazon’s stores, and to date they have supported more than 85,000 job opportunities in the UK.
This year we launched the Amazon Small Business Accelerator with business support network Enterprise Nation to provide 200,000 small businesses with free training on a variety of topics, including social media marketing, selling online, scaling production and hiring. Small businesses can sign up for free today.
In addition, this year, throughout the festive season, Amazon will spend more than £75 million on promotional activities to help small businesses around the world increase their sales and reach new customers.
Black Friday Live
To bring extra joy to customers during a challenging year, Amazon also launched Black Friday Live, a celebrity-fronted series of workshops, entertainment and reasons to smile, with a new episode going live each evening at 6pm during the Black Friday Week sale.
Black Friday Live was specially designed to be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home – and included something for the entire family – from bedtime stories with author and comedian David Walliams, to Christmas cocktail tips from broadcasters Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon. As part of our long-term commitment to supporting small business, Black Friday Live also celebrated our community of sellers.
Rylan Clark-Neal, Strictly Come Dancing and Supermarket Sweep star, led a session with the founders of Leicester-based beard grooming business, Mo Bros.
Keval, Kunal and Savan shared their tips on how to grow your business online – and how to grow a better beard!
“Every year, Black Friday is big for us,” says Keval of Mo Bros. “This year has been tough for lots of small businesses like ours, and Black Friday promotions are even more important to help people discover what we do for our bearded brothers, not just in the UK, but all over the world.”
Singer and presenter Stacey Solomon also encouraged our customers to shop small, hosting a crafty Christmas wax melt workshop with Handmade Seller Becki Tyrell, founder of Twinkle Cottage.
Don’t forget – all the Black Friday Live episodes are still available at www.amazon.co.uk/blackfridaylive, so check them out to get baking, cocktail making, crafting or gaming with some of the UK’s best-known faces.
