Home Business Countdown to Black Friday

Countdown to Black Friday

by Bustop TV News

By Lerato Ndlovu

It’s that time of year again. Black Friday sales are upon us, just twenty three days to go!!!!

This year Black Friday falls on Friday 26 November. Despite this, the past few years have seen deals and discounts go live in the lead up to the big sales event as early as two weeks prior and a number of people have gone to the neighbouring countries (Zambia and South Africa) to purchase products at a very low price.

In 2019, a couple of popular South African retailers’ pricing and advertising went under scrutiny, making it even more important for consumers to ensure they do their homework before spending on any big-ticket items this Black Friday.

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic changed how people operate and affected the economy, travelling embargo induced by the pandemic hindered many from travelling freely to the bordering countries for shopping at lower prices.

For 2021, many retailers have already started announcing some Black Friday deals, but the best deals won’t be announced until Black Friday itself or at least partway through thanksgiving.

Research has shown that the Black Friday phenomenon has grown faster in South Africa than any other country in the world.

In Zimbabwe, the only black Friday that is well known is that of November 1997 when the Zimbabwean dollar crushed losing 75% of its value to the United States dollar. To date outlets such as, Jet, Powersales, Edgars, Mattress Furnitures, TV Sales and Hire embraced this concept.

Black Friday was first mentioned in 1951. It was used to describe people calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving. After securing the sick day people would hit the shops to get a head start on the Christmas shopping.

While this all sounds negative, the term was firmly positive for retailers. The Friday after Thanksgiving was actually one of the most profitable for them. Just as they still do today, accountants used black to show profit gain when recording each day in their account book, while red was a sign of a loss. So Black Friday became linked to the black of the account book, with retailers promoting it as almost an unofficial ‘shopping holiday’.

Related Articles