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Although the tradition of Black Friday is largely considered old, the last ten years in particular have witnessed a tremendous growth in this trend globally to turn into one of the most important commercial days of the year.
Black Friday is the Friday immediately following Thanksgiving, and thus Black Friday is the fourth Friday in the month of November, which is considered a prelude to the Western holiday season, making it announcing the start of the global shopping season.
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On that day, stores open their physical and virtual doors to millions of consumers to purchase all products and tools with huge discounts that may seem at first glance not to be repeated throughout the year. In the Arab world, and for well-known religious reasons, the name "Black Friday" was changed to "White Friday", and it witnessed a great demand in recent years, so that the "Souq.com" website, currently owned by Amazon International and serving in several Arab countries, recorded in the year 2017 the sale of 18 products. One second at peak times, and the Jumia Egypt online shopping website announced that sales of the first hour on Black Friday are equal to sales of five full working days. (2, 3) In other words, this day is the day when supermarkets, medium and small stores salivate to achieve the largest possible level of profits, which makes the possibility of using black marketing “tricks” on this day very likely, if not inevitable at times. (4, 5)
Major discounts can be misleading
Of course, nothing arouses the customer's appetite for purchase more than a significant reduction in the price of the product, and this is the reason behind the importance of Black Friday offers around the world in the first place, which is to provide various products and merchandise with significant discounts in prices that may not be repeated for the rest of the year.
However, there seems to be a lot of deception in this particular matter that many stores, both traditional and digital, follow.
During Black Friday, at first glance, you will find that the huge discounts seem very large, but what many do not know is that many products and merchandise are sold throughout the year within the framework of some reduction from the price set by the manufacturer for this product, or what is called (MSRP) or ( Manufacturer's suggested retail price).
So, the product that you think got a big discount on Black Friday is actually a very small discount from the price it was sold at all year long.
For example, if you are going to buy a product on Black Friday that has a normal value of $100, and you find a 30% discount on it, you will buy it for $70.
At first glance it looks like you got a big discount, but the fact that this product was already widely sold in this store or others for $ 80 all year round as the usual discount that different stores make to stimulate their sales.
So, when you go to buy it for $70, you only get a 12.5% discount from its usual selling price, not the 30% it seems to you at first glance.
In other words, you got a very modest discount that day, not as big as you might imagine.
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Or maybe the big discounts are just an illusion
Sometimes, some stores anticipate the situation before the advent of Black Friday, which is considered the precursor to the global holiday movement, so they raise the prices of products and merchandise from their usual price, and then when Black Friday comes with the usual big discounts, the stores reduce prices again to return to their first original price or the price of A little less so that sometimes the actual discount rates do not exceed 10%! (5)
According to a report published by the Wall Street Journal entitled "The Dirty Secrets of Black Friday", I mentioned that one of the most famous tactics of stores in that period was to slightly or moderately increase the prices of products a few days before the advent of Black Friday, and therefore when they display their discounts, it appears to the public that they are big discounts - Compared to the previous fake price - when in fact they are very slight discounts.
The newspaper monitored an increase of 8%, which included a fifth of the goods that it tracked before Black Friday, and increases of an average of 23% in some products and games before the discounts were offered on Black Friday.
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E-shops may know you before.. and give you different prices
Most digital commerce sites now use cookies called "Cookies" in order to track their online visitors. These small files track the goods you usually browse and also your "purchasing habits". So when you come back to the digital store from time to time you find yourself right in front of the products you are used to browsing and buying.
This legal feature is undoubtedly useful considering that you allow the shopper and the merchant to know each other and facilitate browsing and buying processes, however it may also be misused by some digital stores on Black Friday when the shops are interested in collecting the most profits. In short, when the cookies show the store that there is a customer who usually visits the digital store periodically, and pays in full for various goods and products, and that his marketing behaviors are to a large extent generous, this customer may not be presented with marketing offers that include big discounts on Friday Black, like others the store is known for, has a tendency to slow down and wait for offers and discounts. So; On Black Friday, it is always better to browse the digital markets using the "incognito mode" feature.In the browser, which hides cookies, which makes the digital store unable to recognize your previous marketing habits, and thus shows all offers in all sections neutrally. (4)
Buy fast or you will miss the chance
One of the most important and most famous marketing tactics on this particular day is to create a general atmosphere of emergency and urgency for the buyer, so that this climate pushes him to rush to buy without thinking or examining the product he wants to buy.
On this day, you will always find bright advertisements that tell you the need to hurry up to buy immediately, otherwise you will not find this product and that it will run out soon, as well as the idea of rushing to buy already, considering that this day passes quickly and that if you miss the purchase, you will lose the whole year deal with these big discounts.
In many digital stores you will find a countdown that they use on their homepage during that day. Always inform the consumer that time is running out quickly and that if he does not make up for the purchase at the earliest opportunity, he will miss out on special offers that will not be repeated throughout the world. This situation - notifying consumers of the need to hurry up to buy - is known among marketers as "FOMO", which is an abbreviation for "The Fear of Missing Out", and it is considered one of the most important tactics that traditional and digital stores focus on in On Black Friday in particular, although it doesn't need all that tension. In fact, many occasions during the year include big and excellent discounts as well, which means that the idea that “Black Friday” is the day that includes the whole year deal is not true at all. There are great offers throughout the year, including discounts for the beginning of the school year, Valentine's Day, and discounts on furniture, games and appliances according to different occasions.(4)
Some products are specially made for today.. with lower quality
Many traditional and electronic stores receive a large number of goods and products that are designed to be displayed on this particular day at discounted prices and with lower quality that suits the price offered.
These products are diversified to include various goods, although they are mainly focused on television screens and electronic devices in particular.
Days before the start of Black Friday, supermarkets and retail stores receive a large number of electronic devices, including televisions and computers, which are manufactured under the names of major international brands, but are intended for sale at a low price during this particular occasion, and their quality is less than the usual quality of the same products that companies put on the market Usually.
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Old products are the most on sale
Most of the products and merchandise offered for sale on Black Friday are usually old models that were displayed in previous years as is, and various companies seek to display them again to end their stock of these goods by attracting consumers to buy them at prices that seem competitive, rather than incurring losses to keep them in stores For long periods of time without any real benefit behind it.
It is true that you will find some modern exhibits, especially in devices, phones, computers and tablets, but these products are usually limited in digital and traditional stores, in addition to the fact that the level of discounts on them is not as large as the rest of the older products that were offered before.
According to one study, about 93% of stores offered at least one product in 2014 at the same price as Black Friday in 2013. (5, 9)
Alert in all possible marketing mechanisms
On Black Friday, all stores, whether digital or traditional, use all possible marketing tools to capture your interest and make you want to buy even if you don't really need to buy any product.
The number one goal of all stores on this day is to seduce you in any way you can spend your money.
If you are going to shop in a traditional store, all the merchandise and products on the shelves have been carefully placed so that your eyes will always fall on the products that attract you to spend what is in your pocket, imagining that you are taking advantage of the deal of the year.
You will find yourself all the time in front of high-priced products and merchandise - even after discounts - and suggesting to you that if you do not buy these products quickly, you will be among the losers.
Therefore, the absolute best way to shop on this day is to make a plan of the things you actually want to buy on this day, and do not enter any store unless you have made a list of the products you are interested in buying so that you do not fall victim to the temptation of the big promotion on this day for products you do not need to it at all.
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In the end, Black/White Friday remains one of the most important days of global trade, and indeed it has many benefits for both the seller and the buyer, if both of them follow the correct methods of displaying their products.
The seller should not take advantage of the consumers’ desire to buy by placing incorrect and low-quality offers, and the buyer should specify in advance what he actually needs and not let his desires drift behind the torrent of advertisements, offers and discounts that besiege him everywhere.