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

bbc.com

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

#51

Post by aikinai »

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.

Yes, it's a Christmas-oriented holiday, but the timing is determined by Thanksgiving since the day after Thanksgiving is when everyone turns their attention to Christmas and starts buying gifts (traditionally).

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

#53

Post by Borrible »

Of course, the prices are higher.

Especially from customer perspective they have to be. The difference is finally the price for a bundle of valuable services.

Boosting egos by making them think they're are smarter than they really are.

Entertainment.Price hunting as a game. Without a gaming console! See, they even saved you money on this!

Shopping as a social experience. Everybody does it, and so do you. You want to belong, don't ya?

Boast about it. Your social environment will celebrate you. Except the odd bastard, that spoils the mood, of course.

And since evereybody wants the candy now, the prices must be higher now. Higher demand, higher prices.

They just look lower, because that is what you're buying.

The look.

They look good to let you let you look good.

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

#54

Post by fasouto »

nitsuaeekcm wrote: post #48

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.

They do money by adding their affiliate code to the links.

However the Amazon Affiliate TOS [0] say:

(y) Unless otherwise agreed by Amazon, your Site must not have price tracking and/or price alerting functionality.

I see many sites with this functionality. I don't know if they all got approved by Amazon or they are not enforcing this clause.

[0] https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/operating/policies...

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

#55

Post by Eelongate »

zoomablemind wrote: post #45

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…

> And people do know the deal value, when they see it.

This is contrary to all of my experience with the sort of people for whom shopping is a hobby or who get excited about black friday. They all love to "save 50%" on some junk that was marked up 200% and will end up in the thrift store before the year is out.

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

#56

Post by ctdonath »

“Black Friday” = the day most realtors go from “in the red” to “in the black” financially for the year.

Been interesting watching it mutate from merely the day customers start buying gifts en masse in earnest, to a real discount & deals day, to a jack-and-drop fakeout.

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

#57

Post by ajsnigrutin »

ayngg wrote: post #46

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…

I live in slovenia.

We literally have all-month black friday "deals".

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

#59

Post by maltyr »

fasouto wrote: post #54
nitsuaeekcm wrote: post #48

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.

They do money by adding their affiliate code to the links. However the Amazon Affiliate TOS [0] say: (y) Unless otherwise agreed by Amazon, your Site must not have price tracking and/or price alerting functionality. I see many sites with this functionality. I don't know if they all got approved by Amazon or they are not enforcing this clause. [0] https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/operating/policies...

They're a part of the affiliate program, and they are price tracking, so I would say they have implicit permission, or else they would have been long kicked off of the affiliate program.

I recall reading that the reason CamelCamelCamel is permitted is because they ONLY price track Amazon (vs tracking multiple retailers), but I can't recall where that came from.

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

#60

Post by ziml77 »

fasouto wrote: post #54
nitsuaeekcm wrote: post #48

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.

They do money by adding their affiliate code to the links. However the Amazon Affiliate TOS [0] say: (y) Unless otherwise agreed by Amazon, your Site must not have price tracking and/or price alerting functionality. I see many sites with this functionality. I don't know if they all got approved by Amazon or they are not enforcing this clause. [0] https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/operating/policies...

Maybe Amazon thinks camelcamelcamel is helping more than hurting?
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