analysis: Black Friday What do independent retailers think about Black Friday?
Black Friday means diff erent things to independent electrical retailers, but one thing is looking likely, with the cost-of-living crisis. As energy bills and infl ation soar, Black Friday is, arguably, coming
at the right time for shoppers looking for deals in the run-up to the World Cup in Qatar and Christmas. Steve Scogings, managing director of Stellisons and chairman of CIH, said: “We will be running Black Friday promotions on selected products; we will start a fortnight before and run until a week afterwards. Promotions will be on any end-of-line products and a select range promoted by Euronics.”
Mr Scogings said that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are a way of
clearing old models and some slow moving lines. “I am more interested in the World Cup for TV sales than Black Friday and will be promoting this more to be honest,” he said. In terms of advice for other like-minded retailers, Mr Scogings said:
“Don’t advertise too many off ers, but have a strong leading off er that your staff can then expand on in store. “Online it is all about the deal for Black Friday, so I tend to not engage too much on this channel.” South Wales -based retailer, Andrew Thomas, managing director of AF Thomas Electricals and deputy chairman of CIH, said he will be running promotions this year, aligned to the Euronics Black Friday promotional calendar. “Black Friday and Cyber Monday are not especially
big events for my business,” Mr Thomas said. “We have recently become very busy, which we hope will continue through into the peak selling season.
“CIH members should get on board and push the genuine
promotions that Euronics produce.” Mark Smithson, chief executive of Marks Electrical, said out that when Black Friday fi rst started in the UK, the amount of orders his bsuiness would get was incredible, but it slowly petered off . “Then it became Black November, but some
retailers are not participating in Black Friday,” he said.
“Black Friday ruins our business model, because we can’t get all the deliveries out the door. It’s too expensive to run promotions during Black Friday, but I think this year, there’s probably a lot of pent-up demand, with people waiting for Black Friday.” Mr Smithson said he expects some really good deals on Black Friday, because of the World Cup. “Expectations are that promotions will start during the week of Black
Friday and then run all the way through to December and probably into January,” Mr Smithson said. “Our sales are very strong at the moment already, which is great, but that’s because we’ve got the right stock and we’ve got the right service off ering.”
Above: Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving – the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in 2021
Left: Mark Electrical’s Black Friday promotion
Will the Royal Mail strike aff ect Black Friday deliveries? Due to an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions, Royal Mail workers are set to strike for a further 19 days across October and November. Unfortunately for shoppers, that means there could be a delay to deliveries during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales
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www.ierdaily.co.uk October/November 2022
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