Black Friday, followed by Cyber Monday, are two of the biggest income days for businesses, this side of Christmas. Each year these traditionally US events, grow in popularity in the Australian market.
Retailers both physical and digital will be offering discounts on a wide range of products. While this should be the perfect time to grab a great bargain ahead of Christmas, that actually may be harder than you think in 2023.
As I look through literally dozens of emails in my inbox, I’m seeing a disturbing trend of companies using and abusing the concept of these stand-out events.
Black Friday is supposed to be when companies offer large, significant discounts and consumers actually get a serious deal. Increasingly we’re seeing companies take what are regular 10-20% discounts (often after marking up wholesale costs by 30-50%) and attempting to cash in on the occasion.
There are even attempts to offer a top-level discount for higher figures (i.e. 50% off) but when you visit the deal, you quickly realise it is for literally 1 product type (this is a specific model, colour, storage etc) and the chance that you want that product and spec is close to zero. This is a really poor sales tactic to get potential customers in the front door, where they hope to land you on an alternative product.
This thinly veiled attempt to grab your attention (and your clicks), simply results in disappointment and a negative connection with the brand as the user feels like they’ve been tricked.
For these reasons you’re unlikely to see me share many, or if any Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals this year, unless there are so many actual serious discounts to be had.
I actually don’t mind if a company has a limited supply of a product on discount, or if they are selling because they want to move stock, but the discounts have to be real and yes there should still be a margin to make sure the business makes a small profit, while the customer leaves the big winner, getting a great product at a great price.
When is Black Friday 2023 in Australia?
Black Friday falls on Friday, November 24, 2023. However, many retailers have started their sales already as much as a week before the day, which also kind of ruins the notion that this is a special deal, rather than another week in week out sale (looking at you EB Games).
