It MUST be Black Friday today, right?
After all, it’s a Friday, and I’ve got dozens of deals in my inbox, all screaming their “Black Friday” credentials.
But it’s not Black Friday. That dubious honour belongs to Friday 29th November, the day after Thanksgiving.
That hasn’t stopped the Black Friday deals getting pumped out all month though – I was privileged to be given “early access” to several Black Friday deals way back in October, with the prize for the earliest promotional email in my inbox this year?
October 4th.
It’s not hard to see why businesses have decided to make it into a month-long extravaganza – after all, if running an offer made them loads of sales on one day, the logic goes that running that offer for longer will result in even more sales. And that might be true.
But there is a significant snag attached to this approach; one I imagine will result in the eventual demise of the whole event over the next few years: No one knows when to buy.
Are you getting the best Black Friday deal by buying NOW, a week before the actual event?
Or are you best off waiting until the day itself?
Or – given that it now carries on until the Monday following the main event – should you wait until then, when retailers are bound to reduce the prices if they haven’t sold as much as they want?! I don’t know. And I don’t think I’m alone.
As a result, for many, the urgency and scarcity have been lifted out of the event, because there’s not one clear window when they know they’re going to get the best deal, or when they have to take action.
Because there’s no reason to buy NOW, right this second, there’s less incentive to do so.
(And just FYI, Which? reckons only 2% of Black Friday deals are genuinely offering the best possible price, so just be careful with that credit card.)
Black Friday is still responsible for plenty of revenue for plenty of businesses, but it’s a cultural event that – in its current form – I can’t see standing the test of time, because the very reason why it was so effective has been diluted.
Urgency and scarcity drive action. Dilute them and show them to be artificial at your peril.
Seb
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