In October’s Big Furniture Group magazine, there was an exclusive Black Friday insight from Ben Wain, Founder – Wain Consultancy & Coaching, who examined if the promotional event still works and if we’re in danger of ruining it.
The conclusion was that if a furniture, bed or carpet retailer is indeed looking to get involved with Black Friday this year, the tip of ‘keeping things simple’ is key. “Know your purpose, keep the event short, create a handful of undeniable offers, get your people behind it and have a plan for what happens afterwards”, is the message.
So, with Black Friday officially taking place on Friday 27 November 2026, it can still be one of the strongest trading opportunities in the retail calendar. The opportunity is still there. The challenge for retailers is making Black Friday feel like an event again, not just another sale with a different name.
With that in mind, this month’s blog focuses on just that. If you’re forecasting UK furniture and bed sales around Black Friday 2026, the evidence suggests it can be a very important trading period, but the uplift is likely to be concentrated into a Black Friday promotional window, rather than representing a permanent increase in demand.
With Cyber Monday on 30 November 2026, it’s also worth nothing that many retailers are increasingly spreading promotions across much of November rather than relying on one day.
For a UK furniture and bed retailer, a reasonable planning assumption would be:
- Early November – consumers are in research mode
- Two weeks before Black Friday – Promotions/search activity builds
- Black Friday week – Main sales surge
- Black Friday weekend – Potential peak for online
- Cyber Monday – Particularly online peak
- December after Black Friday – Some demand remains
Those ranges are planning estimates rather than published UK industry forecasts. Actual results can vary substantially according to price point, discount, brand, stock availability, advertising and whether the retailer has a strong existing customer base.
There is good evidence that UK consumers actively search for furniture during this period. In November 2025, searches for “Black Friday furniture deals” increased 1,750%, while “Black Friday furniture” increased 850%, according to Google search data analysed by Big Furniture Group last year.
The ONS also previously reported that UK household-goods sales volumes rose 1.1% in November 2024, with furniture stores making the largest contribution to that increase within the household-goods category. More recently, in November 2025, the British Retail Consortium reported that homeware and upholstery sold well, specifically noting consumer demand around preparing homes for the festive period.
Furthermore, in 2025, retailers were advertising substantial headline discounts. Examples reported around the market included mattresses and beds at discounts of up to 30–50% or more, although headline “up to” discounts shouldn’t be interpreted as the average discount across the range.
There’s also evidence that furniture retailers are now discounting heavily before Black Friday rather than suddenly dropping prices on the day. A 2025 analysis of 16,487 UK SKUs found that, within Home & Furniture, furniture had an average 13.7% pre-Black-Friday discount, while bedding averaged 11.9%. During Black Friday week, the additional discount was relatively modest.
When it comes to discounting, it’s good to be aware of good practice, otherwise your business could face a sting. According to Which?, it found that 83% of the products it analysed in its 2024 Black Friday study was cheaper or the same price at another point during the surrounding year. So rather than relying on an inflated “was” price, make the proposition extremely transparent.
A final nugget to takeaway is delivery. For furniture, delivery can be part of the Black Friday offer rather than simply reducing the product price. According to data from KPMG, free delivery matters a lot for furniture. KPMG’s 2025 UK consumer research found free delivery was the most commonly cited promotion/feature attracting consumers to Black Friday/Cyber Monday purchases, selected by 47% of respondents who were considering buying.
To answer the headline question: Is Black Friday worth it? For furniture, beds and carpet retailers, there is a significant opportunity to be had, if the event is presented and delivered in the right way. Next month will explore more about Black Friday promotions to find out what other retailers are doing for the event.
Perhaps you have a plan in place already? If not, take a look at October’s Big Furniture Group magazine (page 24) to discover more. It’s also worth considering a text marketing campaign throughout the promotion period. In a nutshell, the statistics behind SMS marketing are extraordinary. Industry data consistently shows that text messages achieve around a 98% open rate, with over 90% being read within the first three minutes of arriving on a customer’s phone.
No other mainstream marketing channel comes close. And RetailSystem can provide this service through FurnitureTexts. Find out more and get your Black Friday plans moving.
https://www.retailsystem.com/uk/features/text-marketing/