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Hello, guys!
I was thinking what would be the topic for my next blog and decided to write about Black Friday, which happened this week. This is a popular event, which takes place also in Bulgaria for the past few years. Since in my country, this happening was quite crowded, I believe it would be an interesting topic to talk about.
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The origin of Black Friday comes from the United States of America. The main idea is on a certain Friday, or the so-called Black Friday to offer goods with lowered price or discounts of the price. In such events, the best possible result would be that everybody gets something out of this. The merchants gain from the large quantity of products they are able to sell for a short period of time - only during one certain day. On the other hand, the customers gain from the low prices and discounts (or deals) and eventually save money in the best-case scenario.
Black Friday (/ˈblæk ˈfraɪdeɪ/) is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November).
This year, like each year before it, Black Friday was widely advertised, weeks before the start. The event continues from Friday, 25th of November until the end of the month. During this period, each shop participating in it claims and provides information about the respective prices they are going to offer. For my country, the discounts can vary from 5% up to 50% - 70%, unlike in the United States and other countries, where the discounts could be much bigger. Many of the people are eager to see what merchants will offer on this day and can't wait for it. Some of them have already decided about purchasing particular items, and this is a good opportunity for them to use and buy the exact stuff they need. There are also people who go just to visit without any intention of buying, and maybe if they like something when they are in the shop, they might buy it. The types of customers are different. Besides that, surprisingly some customers are unsatisfied with the prices.
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The goods/products being offered are a wide range with the top sector leading in sales in my country - tech items (mostly smartphones and tablets). On Black Friday one can find clothes, goods for home improvement, food, many services are offered, as well. And what's interesting is that the day is one month before the Christmas and New Year celebrations, so people can use it to buy presents upfront. However, that's not always the case as many Bulgarians wait until the last moment to buy anything needed to spend the holidays.
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The marketing analysts claim that each year Black Friday is increasing its popularity if we consider the sales and the generated income. But nobody mentions the expenses (for organizing, advertisement, etc.), so I don't think it's quite clear if they are generating enough to cover them.
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During the first day of the happening, Friday, it is typical that a lot of traffic is preventing people from reaching their destination, which can potentially lead to car accidents and unnecessary tension. The queues for buying goods are long. People who have already decided to visit the shopping malls are prepared for all the craziness since the day before, but sometimes issues can arise due to the crowded locations during this special day.
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Myself, I'm not really the kind of person to visit such events. I find them too crowded and too crazy. The main places where most of the people are gathered are the shopping centers - the malls. During the entire day, the malls are packed with customers everywhere, plenty of black-colored signs are hanging in each shop, indicating the percentage they offer or just announcing they are participating in the Black Friday. Most companies and/or shops have updated their websites online with this information, as well, so that it is available and known by the biggest possible number of potential customers and users. But the madness of the entire happening is sometimes too much for me.
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Besides this particular Black Friday, which happens every year, we also have smaller Black Fridays through the year. They are not that organized, of course. Mostly individual stores decide to make a discount to sell more products and announce a Black Friday on any Friday convenient for them. I guess this is a way to attract and catch the eye, so to say so that people associate their prices with the ones offered at the event. But the biggest one is only once, where plenty of participants are included. And it is considered to be the official Black Friday, similar to the way it is in the US.
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The deals (discounts) that are made on Black Friday are in both physical shops, which people can visit, and online stores. Still, the demand is the highest in the regular shops, due to many different reasons. Some of them are: the product being purchased can be tested, seen in real, touched/felt, its characteristics can be experienced in full, etc.
However, online shopping has recently become quite popular in my country, especially given the fact that the number of websites not having any physical space is increasing. They don't actually offer any goods in any other way except online. For these companies, Black Friday is a great opportunity for advertising and reaching to more clients. Such event with so many visitors and shoppers can introduce people to their products and services, and to know them as a brand on the market. In many cases, the discounts online are bigger, but the risk is that the product can be seen only after delivery is completed. Of course, the customer has the right to return the package if anything goes wrong in a pre-determined period of two weeks, or even right after receiving it, but in general, shopping online is not the most popular way of buying products yet. We can't deny the obvious advantage of online shopping, though - waiting time and crowds are avoided. The only thing you need to do is to spend less than five minutes ordering the needed item.
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Besides having so many advantages, Black Friday has its downsides for the users, too. One of them is dealing with unfair merchants, who use different methods to try to misguide the clients. The good thing is that most of the cases are solved right after coming into light. Information about such issues is widely spread and the ways to report them are clearly indicated by all media. One of the most common issues is advertising a product/good with an extremely big or even unreal discount, but after visiting the store it appears that such item is not being sold and available there. The goal is to attract more visitors and eventually turn them into buyers.
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Black Friday is popular in many other countries, but I believe the most popularity for this kind of events is in the USA. Other countries which have Black Friday are United Kingdom, Canada, France, some other European countries, etc.
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Even though I'm not a fan of Black Friday, I believe the event is positive in general, as it creates a win-win situation and in most cases everyone is happy. We'll see in the coming years if it will continue to provoke higher and higher interest as the usefulness of such days is great for many people. I hope this blog was interesting.
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Thanks for reading!
- NinaB
