Despite massive discounts, Black Friday sales remain low?

In response to Black Friday, electronics supermarkets on Nguyen Trai Street in Vinh City are offering discounts on household and technology products. Some items are marked with deep discounts of 50-60%, while others are offered with "buy one, get one free" deals, along with attractive promotions such as free shipping, installation, and gift vouchers.

Mr. Phan To Nhu, manager of the household goods section at the electronics supermarket, said: “This is the deepest promotional sale of the year aimed at stimulating shopping and increasing year-end revenue. Besides technology products, household goods are also heavily discounted with a wide variety of options, making it easy for consumers to choose. During this discount week, sales of household goods have increased by about double compared to before. Among them, kitchenware is the most popular.”

Choosing many essential items that are on attractive sale at the supermarket on Le Nin Street, Ms. Tuyet Mai (Hung Binh Ward, Vinh City) said: “I regularly buy these items at the supermarket so I know the daily prices well. Compared to before the promotion, the prices have dropped significantly, with many items reduced by 30-50%. Therefore, I took advantage of the opportunity to buy many essential products for my daily needs at cheap prices, saving quite a lot of money.”

During this period, manufacturers, retail chains, and supermarkets all have promotional programs for each item. The stalls attracting the most customers are those selling fresh food, essential items such as fish sauce, instant noodles, dishwashing liquid, and household goods.

According to businesses, during Black Friday sales week, the number of visitors and shoppers increased dramatically; the number of orders also surged, averaging from 50% to over 120% depending on the product category.

Black Friday is a name of American origin given to Friday., the fourth week of November every year. ThisIt's also a major shopping day with many deep discounts and promotional campaigns.attractive.

In contrast to the bustling activity in essential goods, the fashion, footwear, and cosmetics sectors, despite deep discounts of up to 70% or even 80%, remain sparsely populated. Since the beginning of November, streets specializing in clothing, shoes, and cosmetics such as Nguyen Van Cu, Dang Thai Than, and Le Hong Phong have displayed signs advertising huge discounts of 30% to 80%, yet they are quite deserted.

“Despite displaying signs advertising massive discounts, with some brands offering up to 70% off, the number of customers visiting the store is quite low. Partly because it's just past the holidays of October 20th and November 20th, and close to the Singles' Day sale on November 11th, so customers aren't very enthusiastic. The difficult economic situation means many people have limited incomes and are tightening their spending, including drastically cutting back on designer fashion,” said Ms. Nguyen Phuong Vy, owner of a designer shoe store on Nguyen Van Cu Street (Vinh City).

Furthermore, while most branded fashion items offer deep discounts, the majority are old models or items with limited sizes, leaving customers with few choices. "I frequently hunt for sales, and I find Black Friday to be more about clearing out old stock than genuine promotions. Models that are 1-2 years old are being sold off at 70-80% off, but there aren't many sizes or styles available, and new items are hardly discounted at all," said Ms. Hanh Nguyen, a customer.

Furthermore, consumer habits also significantly impact purchasing power during Black Friday. Currently, consumers are gradually shifting from in-person to online shopping. In particular, livestreaming on TikTok and e-commerce platforms is booming. Many branded goods are also sold online at lower prices, even cheaper than during major sales events, without the hassle of traveling, so many people are less interested in the big sales throughout the year.

Furthermore, some people are concerned about deceptive practices when certain businesses raise prices and then advertise discounts of 50-70%, but in reality, consumers don't receive a genuine reduction and may even end up paying more. This is also a factor preventing this massive promotional event from stimulating the number of shoppers as expected.

From now until the end of 2023 and the Lunar New Year of the Dragon 2024, in response to the "National Concentrated Promotion Month," the Department of Industry and Trade will continue to promote demand stimulation activities while stabilizing the market. The Department has directed businesses to prepare sufficient quantities of goods to serve the shopping needs of the people during the holiday season.

Along with controlling supply and demand and ensuring price stability of goods, the Department of IndustryLoveThey will also prepare plans to ensure production and business operations, and control the market before, during, and after Tet. At the same time, they will encourage retail units to increase preferential discounts, share discounts and other costs to reduce pressure on price increases; and organize longer promotional programs with deeper discounts.