Black Friday: Are you bothered?

[RPower]

Afternoon,

I'm interested to know if you're a fan or not of Black Friday. There's a lot of articles out there at the moment on how to prepare and what it is, but are you jumping on the bandwagon and preparing, or would you rather hide in a bush somewhere and wait for it all to blow over?

Let me know your thoughts,

Rachael

 

[One Step Hosting]

Hoping for a nice deal on Amazon for a new TV , but definately not going to shops and fight for it as the pathetic scenes seen last year

 

[MASSEY]

Is this in terms of catering your business to people wanting mega bargains or us running to the shops to buy for ourselves?

In terms of business, not bothering. If i sold stuff online i may have.

As a customer, i will be hoping to pick up lots of electrical sockets for a pound each which will probably save me a few hundred quid over the course of the year, how exciting.

 

[LowPrices.uk]

Yes, I am a fan and needless to say I have been covering it on my shopping site, (and on Twitter and Facebook). The Black Friday week is a big week for retail. As a marketer, there needs to be something to talk about to get people's attention, and it just so happens that it's now Black Friday.

 

[APW]

Black Friday is just a way to for businesses to get rid of old stock while giving the impression its a great deal.

I will be doing a black friday deal myself and yes it will be the end of line stock as new lines will be out in January.

 

[Max Brzezicki]

I am always a fan of these sales, but never really got myself a nice bargain... I think there are better events in the year, where you can loads off the prices...

 

[john1989]

Black Friday; just another gimmick helping retailers race to the bottom. As a consumer, I don't mind.

 

[Psl]

I would like to know why my favorite restaurants and bars don't take part?!

 

[simon field]

Ask them then!

Pile of guff, there's sales all year round on t'internet don't ya
know

 

[Psl]

Ask them then!

Pile of guff, there's sales all year round on t'internet don't ya
know

I did, they added 20% to my bill and said if want a discount to Witherspoons!!

 

[Bill1954]

To me it seems that all that has happened is the New years sales have been brought forward to pre Xmas to improve sales figures and move old stock.
I don't get involved in it from either side of the fence.

 

[LowPrices.uk]

There are some pretty good deals at Amazon this year, if you look carefully.

Personally I like these sales as it makes shopping more fun.

I don't think the members of this forum are necessarily the target market though. People here are probably relatively well-off, so a sale discount will have relatively less appeal. If I cast my mind back to being a poor student, I was always on the look out for these types of sales.

 

[Scott@KarmaContent]

I'm looking forward to Black Friday. I'll be spending it at home with the TV on, watching complete idiots lose every shred of dignity as they battle for a TV that was £5 cheaper than it was last week.

 

[deniser]

We offered discounts online on Black Friday last year but it was a disaster because it was dead quiet and didn't get much in the way of extra sales (Friday always a quiet day for us anyway) but it annoyed quite a few customers - some who didn't understand the concept that they were one day only discounts and were then annoyed when the price had gone back to normal the next day - and also those who had bought in the preceding days because they missed out on the discount.

So, to prevent disgruntled customers this year we have put a notice on the website saying we won't be doing Black Friday discounts so they can buy now without worrying that it might be cheaper on Friday.

Seriously, for us it's just easier to to say that we offer the best prices all year round and ends of line will be discounted as and when all year round.

 

[iArtist]

I have a number of merchants who are offering some great Black Friday discounts which are definitely worth taking advantage of. Myself I already took advantage of an exclsuive offer re one of my merchants (90% discount sale) so have no need for anything at the moment but I will definitely look re future birthdays and what not. It makes sense to buy during sales like this rather than buy as you go, given the saving can sometimes be up to 60%. My mum for example is getting me a treadmill as it's 60% reduced in a sale - bargain! That's a huge saving when they are normally £1000 for that model.

Meanwhile I know many businesses are starting their sales early to grab the pennies before the Friday Frenzy. I do wonder if anyone actually makes any money re these sales - but then I figure they must else why do them every year? People love a bargain and I guess they buy a lot of things they otherwise would simply go without the rest of the time.

 

[simon field]

But you can find reduced stuff every day of the year!

 

[PipeTen-Carl]

I shall personally be doing what I do for any other retail sales event, trying to ignore it and not buy stuff I don't really need simply because it is cheap or reduced.

At-least with the boxing day sales you will find people selling overstock at discounted prices but with the "black friday" it's either stock bought in specifically for the event (unknown-brand LED TV's for example) or crap stock nobody wanted anyway.

 

[gingerdad]

Don't see the point of buying crap cause it's reduced.

 

[Jayser100]

I am slightly surprised, this being a business forum, how many people have ignored the most interesting aspect of this question and simply talked about their own shopping habits!

What we should be dealing with here is the effect it has on small businesses, who are trying to make their living in the run up to Christmas whilst companies like Amazon shaft us all through selling their Prime goods for next to nothing. Frankly, Black Friday is a disaster and it should be scrapped, end of.

Just in case anyone is in doubt, I can give you inside information on what Amazon do. They contact their Vendor suppliers and offer to buy huge amounts of products for big discounts, so they can sell it all off on the cheap in Black Friday deals. The problem for the vendor is, Amazon often over-buy the products and then spend the next few months working through selling the same goods at the normal price. This is great for them, because they got the product from you at a very cheap rate, so they get a bigger margin that usual but poor for the supplier who gave the goods up cheaply and then doesn't get another order for months afterwards.

There are winners and losers for these schemes, and I'm afraid as usual, it is the small businesses that suffer.

 

[billycan]

It's come from the US so it has to be good....surely?

 

[Pish_Pash]

I doubt there'll be many punters get a true bargain....even in this only the 3rd year(?), there's just way too much noise & abuse of the term already. I was listening to the radio this morning & BT are running an ad all week 'black friday week broadband discounts' (black friday week?!!!...it strikes me that there'll not be much of a discount for something that is subscription based (vs. a one off transaction). I predict everyone will be worn out (either through going to a bricks & mortar outlet, missing out on their couple of loss leaders then being faced with 'meh' discounts ...or being frustrated at online retailers servers crashing/being slow as they release a few headline grabbing deals in short supply.

Personally - as someone who sells online - I'll be doing bo-diddley squat, with respect to discounting!!!!

Myself I already took advantage of an exclsuive offer re one of my merchants (90% discount sale).

Are people really so naive? (& this...a business forum!) He's either the worst businessman ever or (more likely) what you bought was not discounted 90% (or if it has been discounted 90%, it was massively overinflated in the first place)

 

[Ian J]

every 4th thursday of November will be called as Black Friday ,

And I suppose that Easter Sunday will now fall on a Saturday

 

[Funding for Communities]

Another load of nonsense we have adopted from the states. Next we will be buying our dogs birthday cards!!.

Hold on a sec, I've just had a great idea for a new business

 

[APW]

While it's never actually mentioned on the news but I wonder how much of those impulse buys is returned after the event?

 

[RPower]

Thanks for all your comments! Here are a few last minute tips if you are thinking of going down that route... http://www.businesszone.co.uk/do/cu...k-friday-preparation-tips-for-small-retailers