You may have seen the news that Asda – actually one of the pioneers of the whole Black Friday phenomenon in the UK which started a couple of years ago – has, in the words of the Dragons of the Den, declared themselves “out” of this year’s Black Friday, which is due on 27th November.
Black Friday is a tradition which we have inherited from the USA where high street retailers provide amazing discounts, often on consumer goods such as TV, washing machines and other white goods, for example, the day after Thanksgiving.
Last year in the UK, Black Friday was synonymous with pictures and news about people fighting over TVs in large superstores, grappling to get the best prices and bargains. Of course, the problem with this is that people get into the mindset of NOT buying goods as normal prices in the lead up to this date, the more fixed in the calendar it becomes. Indeed, news reports yesterday informed us that high street retail sales fell by around 1% in October, which was predominantly attributed to the fact that many consumers were “waiting” to make their purchase until Black Friday at the end of November.
At Event Hire, in much the same way as Asda declared yesterday, we aim to ensure that our prices are as competitive as they can be all year round, rather than having one off flash-sales. This allows our customers to be able to budget and plan accordingly, safe in the knowledge that their event hire equipment is going to be available, and available at the right price.
But, if you are planning to be one of the shoppers camped outside many of the high street retailers the night before Black Friday, go prepared! We have a feeling that our equipment our clients use for normal queue management at events such as retractable tensabarriers, for example, may not be enough in some shops!
