#BlackFriday fever hits SA

Black Friday is all about bargain hunting at malls, markets and shops as the festive shopping season kicks off and retailers offer tempting goods. Picture: Phando Jikelo/Independent Media

Black Friday is all about bargain hunting at malls, markets and shops as the festive shopping season kicks off and retailers offer tempting goods. Picture: Phando Jikelo/Independent Media

Published Nov 25, 2016

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Cape Town - The Western Cape’s economy is expected to be boosted as thousands of consumers hit malls, markets and shops offering large-scale slashed deals for Black Friday today.

Originally an American tradition, Black Friday refers to a day of big sales and promotions on the first Friday after Thanksgiving. The day is seen as the commencement of the Christmas shopping season, which has taken South Africa and countries around the world by storm.

Shoppers can expect discounts, some of up to 70 percent, on everything from clothing and food to cars and airline tickets.

Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Janine Myburgh said Black Friday is effectively the last payday before the start of the festive season, so people will be in a position to take advantage of special offers.

This will lead to increased sales and should benefit retailers. It’s also an opportunity to buy presents, Myburgh said.

“It should be positive and we’ll likely see many more people in the shops and restaurants. This will be good for business.

“What we don’t know is whether people will be buying things they would have bought anyway on another day. No doubt the retailers will be able to tell us at the end of the season. It marks the start of the Christmas shopping spree,” Myburgh said.

Department of Trade and Industry spokesperson Sidwell Medupe said the department would be able to gauge the effects of the shopping craze only once shops have tallied their tills.

Stanlib economist Kevin Lings said the day was good news all round, as it meant consumers would get products they planned to buy, but at a lower cost. As long as people were not frivolous in their spending, and did not bury themselves in credit or debt, spending on Black Friday was harmless, he said.

“This coincides with the busiest month for consumer spending. We have noticed that spending picks up in the early months, when children go back to school, over the Easter period, and then again in November.

“So people would have been spending their money in any case, but now they get to buy products at a discounted rate. We have also noticed that consumers are being modest in their spending, so everything should be fine,” Lings said.

Black Business Chamber secretary-general Khaya Cishe said as representatives of small, medium and microsized enterprises (SMMEs), the chamber would like to see wholesalers getting involved in Black Friday.

“Micro-businesses operating in the retail space would still benefit from the low prices.

“But the other side of the coin is that the concept serves as a marketing tool to retail giants who already have resources dedicated for that purpose.

“Small retailers would definitely find themselves in a situation where they would lose sales on this day and maybe in the long run, as customers would run to these giant stores to buy those items they usually get from local stores,” he said.

If the concept were to become more popular, an impact assessment would have to be done to check that it does not impact negatively in the small business sector, where the chamber predicts it would, Cishe said.

Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF) chairperson Ndithini Thyido encouraged people to seek out township businesses which were also offering Black Friday deals today.

“First get yourself some vetkoek in the townships, then go to a local cafe. This will not only benefit the consumer, but will boost local business,” he said.

“We will definitely see an economic boost, but this requires buy-in from the business and the potential buyers. It will boost the township economy and businesses, and also build social cohesion,” Thyido said.

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