America’s Black Friday shopping craze spills over into the Emirates
Retailers in the UAE are preparing for one of the busiest weekends of the year, starting tomorrow, as Black Friday sales lure shoppers with cut-price goods.
The US sales phenomenon, held the day after Thanksgiving, is expected to give retailers closer to home a huge boost in sales.
E-tailer Awok is offering deals with up to 90 per cent off on selected products. The company’s chief executive, Ulugbek Yuldashev, said that he expected to see a 100 per cent growth compared with last year’s sale.
“For our Eid and Ramadan sales our target was 70 per cent growth, but Black Friday will be much more significant,” Mr Yuldashev said.
Awok has contracted third parties to help shore up its logistics services and increase warehouse space. It is offering specials on about 10,000 of its 70,000 brands, or 14 per cent of its stock, compared with 6 per cent last year.
It is offering the iPhone X, which retails at the UAE Apple store for Dh4,099, for only for Dh729. But the site says this item is sold out.
Mr Yuldashev said other deals include laptops for Dh489 and the Samsung S8 for Dh599.
“We’re trying to give the lowest price and we’re already seeing a lot of traffic coming to the site since we started the sale,” he said.
Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year in the US. Americans rush to shops taking advantage of specials before the holiday season. The US Retail Federation projects that 164 million Americans will shop during Thanksgiving weekend.
Many shops often opening as early as 6am, with consumers lining up outside the doors in advance to take part in the craze that includes deals for a limited amount of stock.
Online shopping has joined in, leading to Cyber Monday in the US. But online shopping is still new for the region. Current figures show online sales make up just 2 per cent of overall retail, Mr Yuldashev said.
“It’s been showing growth for the past couple of years and I expect it to multiply over the next two to four years,” he said.
By 2020, Mr Yuldashev said, the region could reach Asia’s levels at 4 to 5 per cent market penetration.
And in less than a decade, that could reach 8 to 10 per cent, which is today’s global standard.
Yet this shopping craze is relatively new for the region and was adopted mainly as a marketing ploy.
Dubai resident Zahra Busheri admitted to being unaware of the term or its meaning, but she is planning to take part in the extravaganza.
“My birthday is on December 25, and it’s been ages since I’ve been shopping,” Ms Busheri said. “I’m dying to go now since I know it’s a megasale and there’s nothing like it.
Souq.com uses the term White Friday because the region recognises Fridays as a day of worship. Its shopping bargains started yesterday and run until Saturday, providing hourly and spotlight deals, as well as another 10 per cent off if using Visa.
“The number of deals out there is much larger this year,” said Ronaldo Mouchawar, founder and chief executive of Souq.com.
He said that the site had half a million deals this year from the site’s 16,000 brands. There are 10 new brands taking part in the sale compared with last year.
Fashion website Elabelz.com began its Black Friday reductions of up to 75 per cent for selected items on Monday, and the sale will continue until next Tuesday. There is also a promotion using the code “Yalla” for a guaranteed 25 per cent off across the board.
The company expects this week-long sale to rack up revenues to equal the entire month of October.
“This year we have seen the biggest move for fashion products online, and that’s an implication of how the market is behaving when concerning e-commerce,” said Nooruldeen Agha, founder of Elabelz.
We’re trying to give the lowest price, as usual, and we’re already seeing a lot of traffic coming to the site ULUGBEK YULDASHEV Awok chief executive