Sue Ryder is trialling ‘Black Friday’ discounting in some of its shops this weekend for the first time, and is believed to be among the first charity retailers to take part.

The charity will be selling furniture and electrical items at up to 50 per cent off in 36 of its high street shops between the 27 and 29 November. Its online shop has also got a number of Black Friday promotions running until the 30 November.

Sue Ryder is one of the larger charity retail brands. It has around 450 shops and was ranked fourth in the 2015 Charity Shops Survey, produced by Charity Finance, with an income of almost £58m.

Black Friday started in America, with shops offering large discounts the day after Thanksgiving to encourage shoppers in the run-up to Christmas. It has become increasingly popular in the UK in recent years.

A spokesman told Civil Society News that: “We have sales in our shops from time to time and as we are doing quite a bit with Giving Tuesday this year we are trialling this to see how it works for us.”

Giving Tuesday launched last year in the UK and takes place the Tuesday following Black Friday to encourage people to donate their time or money to charity. This year Morrisons is taking part in the campaign to raise money for Sue Ryder, which is its charity of the year partner.