Traditionally, Black Friday falls on the fourth Friday of November, this year it falls on November 24. However, most Czech e-shops offer discounts even for several weeks. “Like in previous years, we at Datart extended the Black Friday event to almost the whole of November,” says press spokesperson Petra Psotková. The electronics retailer expects sales to increase by up to 35 percent.
| What is Black Friday: The origin of the discount holiday Black Friday is the day after the American Thanksgiving Day. It traditionally falls on the fourth Friday in November. The roots of the expression go back to 1869, when it was apparently first used in connection with the collapse of the American gold market. It was later followed by a stock market crash. Back then, he had nothing to do with bargain shopping. The expression Black Friday also appears in connection with the year 1961, when the roads in Philadelphia experienced a very busy traffic situation. Later, the Black Friday designation expanded to include the significance of increased sales for retailers as their numbers rose from “red” to “black”. Since 2005, it has been the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States. |
The multi-day Black Friday is a Czech specialty. In the USA, where the discount event comes from, it is mostly kept strictly within one day. Some American employers give their workers the day off so they can shop more advantageously. They then don’t hesitate to spend the whole night in front of their favorite store to make sure that it really gets to them. Some stores also directly offer night shopping.
Traders have been preparing for the event for weeks
The Alza.cz e-shop launched discount events already on October 30, discounting the entire range from electronics to cosmetics and books. “In the previous months, we did not hold any such large-scale sale. We were preparing everything for the next two weeks or so, which is reflected in the number of products and the price level,” Alzy Eliška Čeřovská, PR manager, told e15.
“Due to the new conditions, we had to make sure that we achieve real discounts that will still be relevant to the rest of the market even in November,” says Jana Sýkora from the e-shop homeandcook.cz. The store with kitchenware increased the stock of the assortment by up to twenty percent during September due to the event.
First year of validity of the new directive
This year, for the first time, Black Friday will be affected by the European Union Directive from 2022, which regulates the rules of discount events. Stores must now, in addition to information about the discount, also provide information about the lowest price for which they sold the product in the last thirty days before the discount was granted. The amendment to the Act on Consumer Protection should prevent customers from being lured to discounts that are not really discounts or are not as significant as merchants present them.
Online stores are reporting discounts of between 12 and 22 percent this year. According to Jakub Balada from the website Hlídač shopů, most of them follow the new rules and thus calculate the discount according to the minimum price of the product before the event. The average discount on the Knihy Dobrovský e-shop is 21 percent, on Alza.cz 22 percent.
E-shops don’t always play by the rules
In some e-shops, however, the website encountered products that do not comply with the new discount rules. For example, e-shop Datart included an ultrasonic spatula in the Black Friday event, but does not state the lowest price before the event on the website. The mere inclusion of a product in Black Friday is already considered a discount according to the new rules. The shop watcher is preparing a detailed analysis after the end of the discount event.
Last year, for example, the electronics retailer Okay did not do well, according to Shop Watcher data. He stated an average discount of 14 percent, while the real discount was only three percent on average. The declared average discount corresponded to the reality last year on the Alza.cz website or at the AAA Auto dealer. In the first case it was 28 percent, in the second it was four percent.
| What is Cyber Monday or Giving Tuesday? Cyber Monday regularly falls on the first Monday after Thanksgiving. Originally, it was supposed to be an online equivalent of Black Friday events in brick-and-mortar stores, but currently it is more of an extension of discount events within Black Friday. Giving Tuesday is an initiative that was created as a counterpoint to the shopping holiday. It is the “World Day of Generosity and Good Deeds”, which falls on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving. |
Interested in small appliances and electronics
As part of the Black Friday event, every year there is mainly interest in electronics, customers often buy mobile phones, headphones, laptops, smart watches or fitness bracelets. Due to the still high energy prices, the interest in energy-saving appliances is also increasing. “This year, customers will save the most in the category of televisions, coffee machines and large household appliances,” lists Psotková from Datart.
