What are the real discounts to expect, and what will be cheaper on New Year’s Eve?
Black Friday breaks with the tradition of holiday sales in the COVID-19 period. It started long before the last Friday of November because of the weekend quarantine. Retailers offer discounts ranging from 20% to 70% on clothing, furniture, books, appliances, electronics, toys, tourist equipment, or trips. Should you waste time shopping on Black Friday? Spoiler – yes.
Start before Start
Black Friday’s main feature in 2020 is a weekend quarantine and the lack of a festive program in shopping and entertainment centers that has traditionally increased attendance. That’s why many retailers started their sales ahead of schedule and extended them by a week or even two weeks instead of three days. Yevgen Loktionov, Director UTG Consulting, told to LIGA.net that only a few stores decided to wait for an official campaign. “The retailers' turnover has decreased because of the pandemic. So, they must improve their annual performance and thus, complete the high season, which starts on Black Friday and ends by the New Year,” Taisia Lytovchenko, Director Retail & Development Advisor Consulting, explains to LIGA.net.
What's What?
The retailers often announce discounts of up to 70%. Still, they sell a limited number of items at such low prices that are remained from past sales. They’re in no hurry to sell tradable goods.
Clothes, Footwear, Perfumery
Average discounts in the segment of clothes, shoes, and cosmetics are 20-30% on Black Friday, as Loktionov from UTG notes. “Manipulation happens sometimes, coming from mostly small, separate shops. Large retail chains and online stores value reputation and loyalty of customers, so they offer real discounts,” Lytovchenko from Retail & Development Advisor says.
Loktionova confirms that price is the primary marketing ploy.
Can you save extra money by making online purchases? The prices of such Ukrainian online clothing platforms, as Kasta, are almost the same as the prices in the offline shops.
You can find the same item at a lower price on Aliexpress. However, as Loktionova says, that when it comes to clothes, people should wait for a month for the delivery without the opportunity to see and assess the garment.
Household appliances and electronics
According to Gradus Research, Ukrainians mostly believe in discounts on electronics and household appliances (47% and 43%, respectively) on Black Friday. The Allo chain reported a triple traffic increase on the website. Vladyslav Chechyotkin, the Rozetka founder, states that 5.6 million people visited the website on 23 November. That’s a record by Black Friday’s standards.
The largest manufacturers officially announce the prices on their platforms, and then the retailers grab them.
Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi make discounts of up to 25% on specific smartphones and watches on Black Friday. Similar discounts are set for TVs, headphones, and portable acoustics.
It’s crucial to bear in mind that these discounts are for the goods’ starting price but not for the last week’s value. Moreover, they will continue. This is due to a particular item’s life cycle and its updated model release.
Should We Wait for More Discounts for a New Year?
Discounts for specific products in December reach 30-40% and generally do not apply to new collections, as Yevgeny Loktionova tells. This is important. On Black Friday, the retailers offer discounts for all goods (including new models). “In December, they won’t apply to all commodities, and it will be challenging finding a suitable size,” Loktionova notes.
We have to wait until January-February if we try to save as much as possible. At that time, discounts on clothing will reach 50-70%. The fact is that the retailers empty their warehouses in the first month of the new year. They start buying new outfits in February, Loktionova says. If the purchase is no rush, it is worth waiting for a few months until the necessary item will be cheaper.
The cosmetics shops work differently. December is the most profitable month in this segment. The retailers offer many discounts of up to 40% before New Year and just a few of them in January.
Rozetka predicts that discounts on electronics may decrease closer to New Year. The reason is that the producers prefer Black Friday, and the Ukrainians started buying gifts for Christmas and New Year’s Eve during this period.
Allo suggests otherwise. Prices won’t be higher than on Black Friday, but the range of goods won’t be so wide. The New Year promotion online is scheduled for December 3.
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