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90% of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper six months before

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Re: 90% of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper six months before

#41

Post by LudwigNagasena »

orev wrote: post #25
gaius_baltar wrote: post #11

This have been a joke for a few years here in Brazil, we call the day "Black Fraud" (sounds a little better in Portuguese) The relevant point is that Black Friday is an "artificial" event here: we do not celebrate Thanksgiving Day so there is no need for a the stores to get rid of unsold inventory. It started just ~10 years ago when marketers began advertising it as a sales day.

Black Friday is only associated with Thanksgiving in the US because it marks just about 1 month before Christmas, but otherwise it’s not part of Thanksgiving. It’s also to start selling products for Christmas gifts — not related to getting rid of unsold inventory. Most companies have a fiscal year ending in December, so it’s mostly just about getting that last boost of sales before the end of the year.

> It’s also to start selling products for Christmas gifts — not related to getting rid of unsold inventory.

That seems totally related to me…

Re: 90% of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper six months before

#44

Post by Swizec »

speeder wrote: post #22
magicalhippo wrote: post #18

Here in Norway we didn't have Black Friday until like a decade ago or so, when shops started introducing it. They even had to explain what it was all about in the ads. Now it's no longer Black Friday, no... now we have Black Week and even Black November, filled with 10% off prices or deep discounts on old junk nobody wanted... There's still a few really good deals, and there's a positive to concentrating the deals to…

Here in Brazil this year I saw a bunch of Black November. Yes, in english, in a country where people normally don't know english. Even weirder, is today a cosmetics company said that "Black Friday" (in english like that!) is a racist name and they are comitted to changing it. Most people here don't even know what "Black" means. (or "Friday", for that matter). The amount of USA culture "invading" our culture is really…

Similar stuff happened in Slovenia since the 90’s.

When I was in elementary school we started celebrating Christmas and imported Santa, thus creating three, 3!, winter men who bring gifts (the catholic Saint Nick, the american Santa, the communist Grandpa Frost).

Then some time in high school Halloween became a thing. Even overtaking Nov 1st as the day of the dead because it’s a party and day of the dead is sad, lame, and for old people.

Towards the end of college, black friday started to become a thing.

Sometimes I wonder if college kids aregoing to start having July 4th parties …

Re: 90% of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper six months before

#45

Post by zoomablemind »

C'mon, guys, there are genuine BF discounts. They do exist! And people do know the deal value, when they see it.

The retailers don't have to discount everything on the floor, they just need the traffic. Once in, some items could still be purchased as valued, the discounts on some items help pull the people in. And sure, the mood and expectation helps.

It is a balancing act, but marketing does not equal cheating, some [lot] manipulation there is, of course. And the crowds are willing too, now demand discounts on anything of value!

Re: 90% of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper six months before

#46

Post by ayngg »

It has been interesting watching the concept of Black Friday (and cyber monday) evolve over the past 20 or so years from being mostly an "American big box retailer dumping excess stock" thing to "oh boy its black Friday, time to go buy stuff!" thing. The entire event has basically been undeservingly co-opted by everyone looking to cash in on hype over an event that basically doesn't even resemble what made it a thing in the first place.

Just like how for singles day in Asia, retailers shamelessly just jack prices up beforehand to make their sale prices look like discounts. These events seem more about whipping the naive mainstream consumer into a consumption frenzy than having real deals to be excited about. While those deals still exist, they are like nuggets of gold that you have to sift through the noise to find.

Re: 90% of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper six months before

#47

Post by mianos »

smnrchrds wrote: post #16
mianos wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is clearly illegal down here in Australia. One of the largest on line retailers here, Kogan, was even prosecuted: https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/kogan-to-pay-350000-fo...

Does the law catch the retailer who have to products with identical specs and different model numbers? Mattress companies have long used the trick to advertise permanent sale pricing that is just standard pricing in North America.

Yes. This exact issue with bedding companies has lead to several prosecutions. For example, permanently making up fake prices just to advertise a discount: - https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/snooze-admits-two-pric... - https://www.accc.gov.au/public-registers/undertakings-regist...

What is it with bedding companies and criminal miss representation of prices?

Re: 90% of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper six months before

#48

Post by nitsuaeekcm »

For those who use Amazon and want cost perspective on particular items, Camelcamelcamel is a superpower (https://camelcamelcamel.com/)

I’m sure one day I’ll find out they make money in all sorts of sketchy ways, but in the mean time it’s a great free website, and I’m continually astounded to see how often retailers play around with the prices they post.

Re: 90% of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper six months before

#49

Post by fzil »

hogFeast wrote: post #23
belval wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same in Canada, the funny part is that we do have thanksgiving but it's actually a month earlier so Black Friday is just sitting in November for no reason other than to nudge people into doing their Christmas shopping.

The reason why it has spread is American retailers, particularly Amazon, entering international markets. In the US, Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year so American retailers discounted on that day. As they went into other countries, they began offering sales on that day too. In the UK, Boxing Day was traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year but most shops close on this day now. Wikipedia te…

Yeah 10 years ago Boxing Day was all the hype in Canada. Most of classmates would stand in line at Best Buy or other retailers to buy some latest console or game disc. Times sure have changed.

Re: 90% of Black Friday deals were the same price or cheaper six months before

#50

Post by rukuu001 »

gaius_baltar wrote: post #11

This have been a joke for a few years here in Brazil, we call the day "Black Fraud" (sounds a little better in Portuguese) The relevant point is that Black Friday is an "artificial" event here: we do not celebrate Thanksgiving Day so there is no need for a the stores to get rid of unsold inventory. It started just ~10 years ago when marketers began advertising it as a sales day.

Black Fraud-day has a pretty good ring to it
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