Row.co.uk Blog

Half of the UK’s Online Shopping will take place on Black Friday by 2020

Posted on November 9, 2016

British retailers took £114bn in the whole of 2015, up 11% on the year before. A whopping 21% (£24bn) of that spend took place over Christmas, with £4.3bn spent on Black Friday weekend.

An American phenomenon, Black Friday was virtually non-existent in the United Kingdom in 2012. It’s the first Friday after November’s Thanksgiving and unofficially marks the start of the Christmas shopping season.

Since 2013 Black Friday sales revenue has grown at least 20% year on year. In comparison the UK’s online shopping spend has been growing at a steady 11% for several years and looks to match that trend this year.

With the current growth trends in mind, gadget insurance company Row.co.uk estimates that UK Black Friday sales will represent 47% of annual online sales by 2020. In pounds, that’s an eye-watering £81.1bn to be spent on one day alone. Annual online sales at the same point in time could be as high as £172.9bn.

Online retail giant Amazon said in 2015 that it sold more than 7.4 million items at a rate of around 86 items per second. The vast majority of purchases are for electronics and gadgets, mainly TVs, tablets, laptops and mobile phones.

With the British Black Friday spend now in the billions, it is officially the UK’s biggest shopping day and that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. Experts predict that £733 million was spent on Manic Monday in 2015, the first Monday in December, followed by £728 million on Christmas Day, £856 million on Boxing Day and £638 million on New Year’s Day.

“Several million mobile phones were purchased last year on Black Friday, with Carphone Warehouse alone claiming a 182% increase in handset sales”, a spokesperson for Row.co.uk said.

“There’s no signs that these sales will slow down. If you do take advantage of the great holiday savings to get your hands on the new iPhone 7, Galaxy S7 or Xperia XZ, do consider getting mobile phone insurance from the smaller niche insurers like Row.co.uk, rather than accepting the network’s cover which can cost up to 80% more.”

Some experts now believe that the popularity of the Black Friday shopping weekend will phase out the traditional Boxing Day sales events.


Featured in: Business Match

*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.

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Review: The Samsung VR Headset

Row.co.uk Blog

Review: The Samsung VR Headset

Posted on October 27, 2015


Let’s dive into looking at one of the coolest gadgets on the market: The Samsung VR Headset


Samsung have teamed up with Oculus, the company who produced the first piece of wearable technology that makes you feel like you’re in a virtual world. Oculus was a Kickstarter company and they found themselves being backed by thousands of people who, in total, pledged over 2 million dollars to the company project. Since Samsung’s companionship with Oculus, they have been able to create wearable technology compatible with mobile smart phones. 




The Innovator edition is only compatible with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and currently priced at £169.00, which we think is fantastic. With a 360 degree environment, you can watch a film in a virtual cinema or enjoy 2D and 3D movies, games and photos all from the comfort of your sofa. If you have a Galaxy S6, all you need to do is connect it to begin. The built-in touchpad and slot for the Galaxy S6 means you can be completely free from wires. You can combine this with the wireless gamepad for a truly portable gaming experience, enabling you to shoot, jump and kick with ease.  
Personal Experience

Our love for mobile tech and games was more than enough to convince us to test out the Samsung Innovator headset. We tried out the ‘Battle for The Avengers Tower’ 360 experience in a Samsung store which was amazing. With the 360 angle available you can look anywhere, from above you to behind you; there was always something happening. The experience only lasted a few minutes, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. You could see so much detail, colour and action all happening at the same time, in a first person view. 
After some research into the games that are available for the headset, it seems there are quite a few experiences. We would expect the production of VR games to increase massively over the next decade, especially with online technology meaning you could really find yourself in a virtual reality playing with other people. This looks set to be the next step for gaming.

Thoughts: It’s still quite early for this tech. Although it looks amazing, I would personally wait to see what the next VR release looks like. Luckily, Samsung might just be thinking the same, as they happen to be releasing a new model called the Consumer edition which is half the price of the Innovator! I’m sure Samsung have gotten a lot of feedback about the first model, and so the Consumer edition should be a great improvement. It might also allow more compatibility with a larger variety of Samsung smartphones, which will inevitably increase sales. 

Definitely keep your eye open for these VR headsets! 

*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.

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