Black Friday – what is next?
There is no question that Black Friday was a creation of retail giants and advertising executives seeking to create an urgency to buy in a traditionally low sales period.
There is no question that the phenomenon has grown at exponential rates over the past few years.
And there is no question that the online version of the same phenomenon has gained equally (if not greater) momentum.
Even this year, online sales set record levels once again during the period.
But there is a growing faction of the retail and marketing industries that have started to wonder whether these sales are sustainable. These experts have started to question whether an artificially created “urgency to purchase” can be maintained given the public’s 24/7 access to online deals and sales.
There is also another group of individuals mourning the loss of the shopping experience brought on by mega-events and panic sales like Black Friday (and Black Thursday, and Black Friday Week). Many contend that people are starting to realize that a majority of the deals are no longer worth the hassle, the struggles, the waiting and the battles that are synonymous with Black Friday events.
Black Friday has been an interesting “event” – one created entirely by the retail and advertising industries. It will be instructive, over the next five years, to see if the initiative can continue to live up to the hype that surrounds it.
