Black Friday: Real Discounts or Mere Marketing Ploy?

Do not believe that every price you see on Black Friday is as an offer as the retailer wants you to believe.

According to a report published by the Guardian, Hilary Osborne claims that every year the consumer group called Which? warns over price offers and goes beyond all the crazy discounts of Black Fridays to find out that “only a small number of products were at their cheapest on that period.”

Going back to 2019, for example, the writer said that only 1% of the items it price-checked were genuinely on offer; “everything else was available at a lower price in the six months before or after,” according to the same report.

Despite this 1%, people are going crazy waiting for Black Friday to enjoy buying things they need and others they do not need just because the products are “cheaper.” Every year, consumers waste their money on nothing more than a cheap gimmick.

 

The Worst Deals Ever

Black Friday has routinely been the busiest and the most important shopping day of the year, as it has recently migrated online, despite the “dishonest” discounts and “special” offers.

“Time and time again, we’ve found that Black Friday isn’t necessarily the best time to pick up a genuinely good discount,” says the organization’s home products and services editor, Lisa Barber. However, she adds that “those prepared to bide their time and do a bit of research should be able to cut through the hype and find a good deal.”

Regarding this issue, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute said that “sellers sometimes raise prices before a sales period to make it look as if they are offering a great deal on the day.”

In fact, Black Friday is seen for consumers as an opportunity to snatch another deal early, before the Christmas chaos begins. Weeks before the sales event, most retailers excessively inflate prices, but the majority of people do not notice this trick. Shoppers are sure that they are buying at a discount, but in reality, they are paying more for products that could have been cheaply bought eight or nine months before the long-awaited event.

This is not all about the Black Friday gimmick; in addition to price manipulation, the products discounted are often presented in low quantities and with poor quality. According to the Love My Shop Day website, “just because a TV has a sticker claiming to be a 4K screen does not guarantee the same level of quality as a full price rival product.”

Despite the important number of consumers who believe in Black Friday discounts, some others believe that Christmas discounts “represent true value for money, as opposed to the misleading prices” and fake promotions of Black Friday as reported by Love My Shop Day. Fortunately, some of the shoppers are now becoming increasingly aware of these marketing tactics.

 

History

The use of Black Friday as a term spread slowly, but it first appeared in The New York Times on November 29, 1975, referring specifically to “the busiest shopping and traffic day of the year before Christmas” in Philadelphia.

Since 1952, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has been considered the beginning of the United States Christmas shopping season. The practice may be linked with the idea of Santa Claus shows. These parades celebrating Thanksgiving often include an appearance by Santa at the end of the parade, to announce the arrival of Santa because Christmas is always the next major holiday following Thanksgiving.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Santa or Thanksgiving parades were sponsored by department stores. Accordingly, department stores use the parades to launch a big advertising “attack.” Finally, it became a “rule” in which no store would do Christmas advertising before the parade was over. Therefore, the day after Thanksgiving became the day when the shopping season officially started, it is the famous Black Friday.

 

Boycotting

Research by loyalty experts Ello suggests that a third of the British, nearly 34% decided to boycott Black Friday in addition to many other peoples around the World. Focusing on the UK, the same research found that 28% of British worry about the impact of Black Friday on the environment, leading to one in five choosing not to make any purchases because of this reason.

According to the Yourmoney.com website which addresses the personal finance needs of UK consumers, the survey of 2,000 UK consumers found that more than 54% believe Black Friday is just a marketing ploy, while 21% think “it’s typically non-premium brands that offer deals,” in addition to 24% who say they stay loyal to brands they shop with on Black Friday during the rest of the year.

Michael Kalli, managing director at Ello said that "consumer budgets have tightened and with the cost of living continuing to rise thanks to higher inflation, Brits are being more money savvy than ever before and as they approach the festive season, consumers are taking the time to do their research on what to buy and where from, so it’s no surprise that many choose to hold off making those bigger purchases in the run up to Black Friday in hope of bagging a bargain, however, many consumers are becoming wiser to so-called marketing ploys of this nature and are staying clear of Black Friday altogether.”