Black Friday grows on South Africans
THE Black Friday craze is expected to once again take South Africa by storm as bargain buyers descend on shops.
“It is like being invited to a party, but not being told where the venue is,” said Matthew Leighton, spokesperson for leading South African e-tailor OneDayOnly.co.za
Leighton said that Black Friday, which will be on November 29 became a big deal after following a trend started by the Americans.
“Black Friday is one of those things that got big in a short space of time and all of a sudden everyone in South Africa realised that ‘Black Friday deals are a thing’ and now we just need to go out and find them.”
The inception of Black Friday began as a Thanksgiving sale by the US retailers and has become one of the most prominent calendar days for consumers and the retail industry across the globe.
“Black Friday may have started as a day where businesses pushed older stock for clearance purposes, but it has morphed into a stand-alone sale day driven by the fact that people know for certain that the very best deals are available.” Black-Friday Global, a retail tracker, said 2018 Black Friday sales in South Africa increased by 19.52%.
With Black Friday around the corner, Leighton shared his “cheat sheet” for consumers to nab the best deals.
“Know your websites,” he advised first-time online buyers and not-soseasoned Black Friday shoppers to get to grips with online shopping before the day to avoid performance anxiety.
“Dot your Is and cross your Ts.” He said the best way to plan shopping is to create an ordered list of the items you want from high priority to low.