Black Friday used to be a nice little shopping event where people could get what they wanted at a lower price. But now, this is a day where major stores push out increasingly aggressive marketing strategies, just to make an extra cent. Many agree it has lost its charm.
Also, with stores digitizing, now they just hope that they can click faster than everybody else. From a survey of 1,200 shoppers, 71 percent of them said they just shopped from home.
Stores have been trying to increase their profits on Black Friday through various ways, most of which are not customer friendly.
Many stores open too early, causing many people to be rather grouchy. Out of 600 shoppers, only about 200 were willing to wake up early. When the range of opening times are anywhere from 3 a.m. to 9 a.m., it is understandable why.
Add on the fact that most items can now also be bought online not just during Black Friday, but all month, and many would rather stay in the comfort of their homes.
The problems do not stop there.
Scams and false marketing are another key issue. Amazon is especially a victim of this.
According to Amazon, sellers on their website can freely change their prices, given that they are not excessively high. This has led many sellers to inflate their prices before Black Friday, then put a sale on their product, bringing the price back to the original price. The customer thinks they are getting a deal, when in reality they are paying full price. This sort of misleading pricing has led to many frustrating experiences, which only brings down the opinion of Black Friday.
All things considered, Black Friday just isn’t what it used to be. Better hope shoppers have quick fingers.
