Black Friday? Yes, tech vendors might be feeling a bit glum looking at numbers for the UK Black Friday may take on a different meaning in 2018 as the consumer shopping bonanza looks set to be an utter flop in the largest economies across Europe. Based on analysis by CONTEXT of distribution sales volumes into retailers and web-based resellers across a "crucial" six-week period at the start of Q4, the sales growth …
Wiso on ZDF (German equivalent of BBC2) on Monday said that prices generally spike for Black Friday, being cheaper up to October, then increase in November, go back down a bit for Black Friday, then sink back to normal levels in December and plumet in January.
They found there were one or two products that were actually cheaper on the day, but the majortiy were either the same price or more expensive than in October.
This was a survey of online and bricks and mortar. I'm not sure how close to the line the stores were playing and whether they were contravening the relevant laws. I didn't watch the whole thing, because I was busy doing other things and I knew about the lack of real offers already, so I don't know if they said that they were breaking the law or not.
I thought Germany had strict laws on sales - as to what prices you could charge and how often you could have them.
It used to: sales were limited to winter and summer but the rules were relaxed about 20 years ago so it's pretty much like the UK with sales all the time, with the best deals obtained outside the sale period…
I remember in the early 1980's when we usually didn't see family until early January, we'd do shopping for them the day *after* Christmas. Stores would be nearly empty (of people that is; back then B&M stores still believed in actually stocking product rather than stupid displays that just waste floor-space).
I have bought a few things as a result of the sales.
I changed my mobile phone contract but it was a deal to existing customers which was better than the Black Friday offerings. I only looked becaue of the sale notice.
But I did get a new shower tidy for £20 less. Struggling on the IT angle with that.
I saw a ludicrously good sim only phone contract offer this morning ( 200G/month for an 18 month £20 contract, including unlimited calls and tethering. Virgin if you're interested. )
Mostly I've got exact model numbers of what I'm after and I'm waiting to buy them if they come down, or next week if they don't.
I'm interested in a PS4 Pro, but not in a hurry to get it so I installed an "Amazon price tracker doodad" into Chrome (Keepa, FWIW). Current price of the latest model (without the noisy fan that bugs people, apparently), bundled with Red Dead Redemption 2 is £384 - £400. Coincidentally it rose to that price 4 days ago after having languished at £350 for a month.
Sales should be about clearing inventory such as last year's models
Well, that's what we'd like, but I think the concept died out along with department stores.
For anybody who works in retail, having a sale now means simply a period of business as usual pricing (or add a bit extra on top) accompanied by intense and mendacious marketing.
If people are being told it's probably best to stockpile medicines and foods, then they're probably less interested in discount gadgets. Although I may have missed a best-seller with a "Brexit Countdown Clock" that reaches zero on 29th March 2019.
I thought there might be a market for a Brexit Advent Calendar, with doors for each day of March hiding little chocolate figurines of prominent campaigners representing both sides: David Cameron carrying a pig's head, Boris Johnson wrapped in a UKIP flag, Gina Miller trying on a judge's wig, etc.
The one for the 28th is a figurine of Nigel Farage, appropriately enough laced with cyanide.
Black Friday makes sense in the US. Because people have the day off. So it became a time that they did online Christmas shopping - after the Thanksgiving madness. And I think Cyber Monday was a thing for the people who'd browsed on that Friday and over the weekend to then do the buying on the office PC on Monday morning. Much better than working... The trick is putting in deals on the more expensive stuff that people might not otherwise buy, so you're upselling. Or in the case of Amazon - selling people Kindles and Echoes cheap, so you can lock them into your ecosystem.
I might be wrong, but IIRC "Cyber Monday" was- even in the US where the Thanksgiving context made sense- somewhat exaggerated and manufactured from the very start.
Its supposed basis was that users were window shopping online on the weekend- back when most people still had slow Internet at home (I assume this means dial-up)- then using high-speed Internet at work on Monday to order things.
This doesn't make sense- if your connection is good enough for browsing, isn't it good enough for ordering anyway? Not to mention that if it ever had a reason to exist, that's pretty much gone, since most people have fast broadband connections nowadays.
But it doesn't matter so long as companies have another excuse to obnoxiously commercialise and overhype the weeks leading up to Christmas.
New products generally come out in the Spring, so during this fiscal quarter they want to start shifting as much as they can, black friday, christmas sales, new years sales, ect. They are all methods of getting rid of old stock before the new products come out, if you wait until the new products launch next year you can get much better sales on the current stuff.
As I write this, it is Thanksgiving in the US. A holiday the vast majority have off with pay and those that are working often either get a extra money and possibly reduced hours. Many will also have Friday off as a holiday (4 day weekend automatically) or will take a vacation day tomorrow. So many will be off tomorrow also. So tomorrow (Friday) is a good day for sales as most will have the day off and can shop.
In the US the traditional start to the Christmas season is the Friday after Thanksgiving. For sometime retailers have been kicking off the holiday season with special sales on Friday. It is called 'Black Friday' according to lore because many retailers need the holiday sales to have a profitable year (hence 'in the black'). It is traditional in the US for Christmas decorations to go up after Thanksgiving.
Trying to import holiday practices such as Black Friday ignores the US context where it does make sense (sort of at least) over here. It would be like having the US observe Boxing Day because it is done in Europe when the US tradition so far ignores it completely.
You know, I've been thinking about this.
It's *almost* as if Black Friday- which only arose in the US because of their timing of Thanksgiving celebrations and the associated holidays- doesn't make any fucking sense in a market where people don't even celebrate Thanksgiving, and that's why it didn't arise organically.
And it's *almost* as if its "arrival" here in recent years was- and continues to be- an obnoxiously forced contrivance introduced purely to serve the needs of retailers wanting to create some artificial excitement around bullshit "sale" events by mimicking the Americans.
And it's not doing so well ths year? Oh, that's so sad.
FOAD Black Friday, you won't be missed.
My daughter spent a couple of years working in Romania and there she found 'Black Friday' deals on and off from about September.
Importing US national holidays into the UK seems to be the fault of the Chinese. They make all this holiday crap anyway and the US being a much bigger market than the UK it makes sense to try and push Halloween (US version) onto the UK rather than Guy Fawkes Night (or the proper version of Halloween). It doesn't make any sense for the British especially as holidays like Thanksgiving are essentially anti-British (it celebrates the arrival of some people fleeing religious oppression and stuff....which is actually total BS but the US isn't that good at teaching history and every nation needs its creation myths). So turn your back on this sort of thing; anyway, its pointless doing 'Christmas shopping' these days because those that can afford it either don't need it, already have it or can buy it using one-click from Amazon and everyone else can't so they're better off not spending what they don't have.
In Finland retailers started doing Black Friday deals some years ago to follow the trend. Here's what the owner of the largest army surplus store in the country—possibly all of the EU[citation needed]—said about it:
I was planning to buy a new coat, because, it's winter and I need something a bit warmer. I didn't buy it a few weeks ago because I knew Black Friday was coming and it would likely be cheaper then. Yesterday, the shop that had the coat I want announced it was Black Friday despite it being a Wednesday, and the coat was available at a more reasonable price, so I bought it.
Joke's on the retailers as far as I'm concerned- much like Amazon's overyped (and by all accounts mediocre) "Prime Day", I associate "Black Friday" sales with bullshit sales tactics like that and disregard them.
Nah, I just associate "Black Friday" with "all the idiots and morons will be crowding the stores, so *I'm* not going anywhere near".
We're not stupid, well, some of us arent.
27.79% of Britons are stupid. That is the percentage of voters who didn't vote in the brexit poll.
The other 72.21% aren't stupid, as they actually voted, whether they were right or wrong depends on your personal point of view, but at least they weren't stupid and not vote at all.
27.79% of Britons are stupid. That is the percentage of voters who didn't vote in the brexit poll
Some of us don't vote for other reasons[1]. Admitedly a very small number (probably less than .0001) but still don't because of our beliefs rather than being stupid.
[1] Long and complicated but down to my religious beliefs.
So, er... this Black Friday thing... are we talking about that temporarily-and-unusually adopted American tradition that somehow popped up last year (or was it the year before) from absolutely nowhere amid scenes of Americans basically having a punch up in Walmart to buy TV's?
The one that translated to "do you Christmas shopping a bit early" to us? Where nobody stormed any shop and any "sale price" was pretty imaginary in the first place anyway?
That one?
So you're shocked that we haven't all gone out and bought laptops over a month before Christmas any more than we normally would? Really?
Amazing.
To be honest, I see precisely zero variation in prices at the moment. But then I always worked on a value system, not "how big is the claimed discount". If it costs £100, and it's worth £100 and I need it, then I'll pay £100. It's pretty irrespective of the day-of-week, time-of-year, size-of-discount or claimed "limited edition" of the offer in question.
Additionally, before I part with £100 the value-adjudication includes "If I was to buy this other thing for £50 and this for £35 and have £15 left in my wallet... would that be better for me and/or make me a happier chappy?"
We didn't have Black Friday. It's not a surprise that we still don't have Black Friday. Stop trying to make Black Friday happen unless I also get a day off for Thanksgiving (hell, call it Brexit Day, I'm fine with it so long as there's a day off... it'll be the one benefit of Brexit so far). So it's not shocking that Black Friday is likely to be no more different than any other day for us.
I'm seeing much the same. For the last couple of years it's been really hyped but come the day it's inevitably turned out to be 5-10% discounts on 5-10% of products. Doesn't really excite me. In fact the only Black Friday offer I can remember ever taking advantage of was a 25% discount on a magazine gift subscription for a friend last year. For the last couple of months I keep getting reminders to "renew" that but I figured they'd be offering the same discount again tomorrow.
Went on the relevant site last Sunday, they weren't offering the Black Friday discounts just then (unlike so many other sites) but were saying what the discounts would be and when (25% again, Friday-Monday). That makes no sense to me at all, it is effectively saying to your customers "Don't buy this now, wait a week and save yourself some money, if you think to come back at all".
For stuff I am buying locally I find the real discounts are achieved through simple procastination, it's amazing how the prices drop after Dec 20...
You'd think they don't know the meaning of "FriDAY"
Last day of the working[1] week, following which there is alcohol[2] and curries/Chinese/Thai/[insert takeaway food of choice here]?
[1] I use that work with a deep sense of irony. After all, we work in IT and that's not really working hard is it boys and girls?
[2] Or not, as your choice may be. For me, still alcohol, just less than there used to be.
I have not bought anything during this supposed sale.
There are to many places who slowly increase prices the month or two months before, and then reduce them to the price they were months before or even still above the price they were months before.
Anything I want to buy I will buy in a few months when the prices will be lower than these current prices.
So my understanding is that Black Friday originated in the US as the day after Thanksgiving - essentially their equivalent of Boxing Day.
However, here in Blighty, retailers have tried to co-opt this as yet another sales opportunity.
Only as usual, they can't leave well alone, and what started as a single day of sales, has somehow morphed into Black Friday Week, and then Black Friday Month.
Is it any wonder then that the public, in general, have gone MEH!
What happened was that last Friday, people were looking round the shops, not buying anything, and told them they weren't going to buy now because they were waiting for Black Friday. So, on Saturday, they decided to declare that it was now Black Friday in the hope that they would get some actual sales.
The Black Friday nonsense has also started here in Australia the past few years.
Same as Halloween (do you get that stupidity in the UK as well?)
Any excuse for the shops to sell more junk that no-one probably really wants or needs.
Does anyone remember when Sales used to be something the shops would have just a few times each year? Now the sales seem to be on 24/7/365 in every shop.
And, Christmas apparently started before the end of September in Australia with all the trees and decorations appearing in shops... Santa's even been in some of the major shopping centres here since before the end of October.
Actually, we seemed to have had a bit of a conflict in some of the shops before October finished - walk in the door and the first thing you saw was the 'horror' of Halloween with all the ghouls, skeletons, bats, etc. and right behind all that was the 'joy' of Christmas with trees, cards, decorations, etc.
No wonder people seemed so confused these days, especially impressionable young kids.
I'll also be waiting for Easter eggs to appear in the shops shortly after Boxing Day - possibly the next day (don't laugh, I've seen it happen).
Hallowe'en was invented in Scotland as a Pagan festival thousands of years ago
It's been part of European culture for thousands of years - most pagan cultures have an equivalent of the day of the dead. So not necessarily invented in Scotland.. (Unlike brochs)
The US version comes primarily (and I could be wrong here) from the Germanic strain.
Same as Halloween (do you get that stupidity in the UK as well?)
Yes. Of course, we've had it in one form or another for several thousand years (as has most of Europe) but lately[1] it's become the tacky US version of trick or treat[2].
[1] As in 'during my lifetime'. Which (I suspect) is a bit longer than some commentards.
[2] And we don't even do it right (and neither does the US now) - look up the original meaning of 'trick or treat'. It didn't automatically involve handing over lots of diabetes-causing sweets to kids..
However, here in Blighty, retailers have tried to co-opt this as yet another sales opportunity.
No, (almost all) UK retailers hate Black Friday and just wish it would die. Why would they want to discount just before the Christmas shopping peak, rather than their old model of coining it for Christmas and then dumping unsold stock in the New Year sales? This was an Amazon import from the US (where it makes sense) to the UK (where it doesn't), and few retailers have had the balls to ignore it since.
I’m not surprised everyone has stopped caring. The first year most retailers were caught by surprise and had to actually discount stuff to get in on the game and the next year was somewhat similar, so there were some real bargains on offer.
Now though, the shops seem to have got wise to consumers expecting bargains this time of year and are making sure they get in plenty of tat they can flog cheaply on the day (well week) rather than losing money on stuff people would actually want. Consumers have noticed and aren’t all that bovvered about the day any more.
Maybe that's why it's no big deal here.
The Black Friday bushfires of 13 January 1939, in Victoria, Australia, were among the worst natural bushfires (wildfires) in the world. Almost 20,000 km² (4,942,000 acres, 2,000,000 ha) of land was burned, 71 people died, several towns were entirely obliterated and the Royal Commission that resulted from it led to major changes in forest management. Over 1,300 homes and 69 sawmills were burned, and 3,700 buildings were destroyed. It was calculated that three-quarters of the State of Victoria was directly or indirectly affected by the disaster. The Royal Commission noted that "it appeared the whole State was alight on Friday, 13 January
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_bushfires
This year I had a curious window of needing some shopping over the last week or 2.
Got a couple of things notionally down in the sale, but have so far been royally screwed on an Amazon Fire tablet for the kid, which plunged by 40 odd quid within a week of purchase.
So... next year I shall know better. Don't buy anything from Amazon in November until I see it in a sale.
Mind you, the chances are good that (as with this year) I shall suffer retail fatigue and just grind to a decision halt on the laptop and put it off for another few months, ready to be screwed again next year.
Since UK retailers seem to have adopted a US holiday as a marketing opportunity when the UK doesn't actually have that day off. I wouldn't be surprised if US retailers start offer boxing day sales, even though the US doesn't celebrate that holiday.
I get royally pissed with how Christmas gets pushed earlier and earlier every year, I saw Christmas stuff for sale at the end of August in one shop this year.
Had an unwanted SMS from Wickes this morning with a black Friday code for 15% discount today. Promptly deleted it, annoyed at their spam. An hour later I discovered my garden fence was a little wobbly and in need of some concrete repair spurs. Damn I'd deleted the code! A quick google search and I found the code again... just bought myself a heap of work to do but at least saved £17 off the items usual price. As for Black Friday in general... Meh, not interested.
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