Retailers have been marking down apparel, homeware and technology ahead of this year’s Black Friday sale, but Trade Aid isn’t among them.
Its chief executive Geoff White says the fair trade retailer is not supporting the Black Friday sale on November 26 in a bid to raise awareness against consumerism and the waste associated with it.
Black Friday sales originated in the United States and take place on the last Friday of November, the day after Thanksgiving. The following Monday is another shopping event, Cyber Monday, for sales exclusively online. And the weekend shopping festival has also been stretched out to a week by some retailers.
Paymark figures show Black Friday sales first eclipsed Boxing Day in 2019 by more than $100 million to reach $253m in spending.
But White says these sales allow large retailers to squeeze the smaller players and local industries, who can’t compete with big loss-leading sales.
Big sales push down wages and lead to an increase in forced labour and modern slavery in product supply chains, he says.
“Fast consumerism leads to frivolous spending, and that leads to more wastage that has a huge environmental impact as our landfills fill up,” White says.
“Someone, somewhere is paying the price for the discount you’re getting.”
White says the response from customers in support of Trade Aid’s anti-Black Friday stance has been the biggest engagement the business has ever received.
“I’m hopeful the pushback against these sales will be long-lasting.”
White’s sentiments are shared globally by independent retailers. In the United Kingdom small retailers will be boycotting this year’s sales to stand up to retail behemoth Amazon, the British Independent Retailers Association says.
Trade Aid has also submitted a petition pushing for greater supply chain transparency through a Modern Slavery Act.
“What sort of world do we want to live in?”
First Retail managing director Chris Wilkinson says Black Friday has become the preeminent sale period for retail ahead of Christmas.
“Black Friday is a recent phenomenon that has firmly established itself in the psyche of consumers. Six years ago there was an indeterminate start to Christmas spending but Black Friday is the bookend to Christmas period. This is a period that opens consumers’ wallets and if retailers are smart enough, they can keep those wallets open right through until Christmas,” Wilkinson says.
But he thinks it’s still a minority of people who are against these types of sales.
“It’s never been more important for retailers that have been unable to trade. Businesses will be really, really hanging out for a successful Black Friday.”
“Someone somewhere is paying the price for the discount you’re getting.”
– Geoff White, Trade Aid
Global shipping congestion also means sales won’t be as extreme as previous years, he says.
“Black Friday this year will be quite different than it’s ever been before. We’ve got challenges with the supply chain for many different products. There are increased costs of bringing products into New Zealand. So essentially, those discounts may be less than they have been in the past because there simply isn’t the product to make that happen,” Wilkinson says.
According to price comparison website PriceSpy’s latest survey of 500 people, well over a third of respondents intend to spend more than $500 on Black Friday during Black Week this year, up 18 percent year-on-year. The average amount people intend to spend in the same week this year is $782.50, up $318 on last year’s average.
The Black Friday sale has been adopted around the world and University of Auckland associate professor Mike Lee says there is no traditional reason for Black Friday sales in New Zealand apart from being a good excuse to get retail activity during a slow period leading up to Christmas.
“It’s the same reason we have Single’s Day, Valentine’s Day and then your end of season sales,” Lee says.
But Lee says the event is becoming more of a polarising topic on social media.
“On the one hand it’s becoming more popular in the sense that more retailers are jumping on board and hyping it up. While on the far extreme, you have people that are against it becoming more vocal on social media which creates a positive feedback loop of people that agree with them.”
The Commerce Commission has previously looked into the sales tactics companies use including hiking up prices ahead of the sale period so when it is discounted it looks like a good deal.
About 15 percent of Fair Trading Act complaints the Commission receives annually are about pricing.
While high prices and price increases are not illegal under the Act, businesses must give legitimate reasons for the increase as they may be found liable for misleading, deceptive conduct, and false representations.
“The best protection for your wallet is to resist the sales pitch.”
– Paul Smith, Consumer NZ
Lee says the best way to ensure customers are not getting swindled is to have a record of the price of the item you’re after weeks or months ahead of the sale and a list of items you’re after.
“Retailers want the sale to act as a heuristic in the consumer’s mind, which means they want to switch off the thinking part of the brain so you can purchase on impulse.”
Tactics like countdown timers, ‘low stock’ signs and notifications of how many people are viewing the product are used to create a sense of urgency.
“As a customer you want to do the opposite, you want to slow it down. Take a moment to reflect on whether you need the thing or not. Do some research, look at reviews, if it’s something you’ve never considered buying then you probably haven’t done research.”
Lee says amid the global supply chain shortages increasing the cost of goods it is difficult to determine whether a company is actually affected by this or using it as a marketing ploy to create a sense of urgency.
“Some big ticket items like cars or spa pools have had legitimate supply chain problems, but it’s difficult to say whether it’s true in all cases or not. But it goes back to thinking how much you really need something.”
Consumer NZ test manager Paul Smith says promotional days like Black Friday can promote needless consumption.
The consumer watchdog has been promoting a Built to Last campaign with WasteMinz to give consumers the right to repair their products.
“Additionally, consumers should be wary of pressure tactics around big sale periods. The best protection for your wallet is to resist the sales pitch,” Smith says.
