article_snippet: However, it proved a disaster in Britain last year with long queues and violent scenes which saw the police criticising supermarkets for failing to put in place proper security.
article_snippet: At the same time, many online stores were simply unable to cope with the rush of orders with the result that a huge delivery backlog was created.
article_snippet: IMRG said: ‘The scale of Black Friday 2014 greatly exceeded everyone’s expectations, which meant a large number of online orders were compressed into a far shorter period of time than anticipated – triggering an online retail ‘delivery tsunami’.
article_snippet: ‘This heavily impacted carrier and retailer fulfilment operations and normal activity suffered for days afterwards.
article_snippet: ’ Andrew Starkey, head of e-logistics at IMRG, said: ‘The huge surge in demand on Black Friday 2014 was unprecedented and caught everyone in the industry by surprise.
article_snippet: Fevered and bullish behaviour in retail outlets saw the police criticising supermarkets for failing to put in place proper security .
highlights_snippet: Rush to order reduced merchandise online created huge delivery backlog .
  