Despite its gloomy name, Black Friday is one of the most important events for those who are obsessed with shopping, as well as for anyone who wants to buy something useful at a deep discount. The term Black Friday appeared in 1966 in America. Traditionally, the promotion falls on the first Friday after Thanksgiving, from November 23 to November 29. In the USA and Europe, discounts can reach 90%, while sales are held in all areas of trade.
Due to globalization, the trend of Black Friday has spread to other countries, and, as it turns out, Bulgaria is no exception. “Now or never” (now or never) - this is the motto of Black Friday this year in Bulgaria.
IKEA
From November 23 to 25, the store of ready-made Swedish furniture and home accessories IKEA is holding a promotion called “Bag Friday”. The key image of the campaign was the well-known blue shopping bag. The company announced discounts reaching 60%. Unfortunately, the list of products is very small, only 34 items, including a sofa from the VIMLE series, SOMMAR and SKOGSNAVA pillowcases, FRÄJEN towels, several chair widows, three lighting fixtures, a flowerpot, a photo frame, and several accessories for interior decoration. It seems that the promotion is more of a nominal nature than it provides an opportunity to purchase something useful at a discount.
Black Friday at Ikea
Electronics stores
Technopolis and Technomaoket, the two largest chains of electronics and home appliance stores in Bulgaria, are also participating in sales this year. The Technomarket company offers three options for discount promotions: November 17-25 “BlackOUT”, November 8-39 “70%”, November 1-30 “50%”. The store’s website has a separate section that presents about 500 items of discounted products, conveniently sorted by type and price. For example, an Apple iPhone X 64GB mobile phone can be purchased with a 15% discount (1800 levs), a NEO refrigerator for 280 levs, and an indesit washing machine with a 23% discount (330 levs). Despite the name of the promotion, we did not find any products with a discount of more than 41% (let alone 70%) in the list of products.
Unlike its competitor, the Technopolis online store limited itself to placing an advertising banner announcing the time of the “Super Weekend” promotion (from November 24-25) and the number of participating products (about 150). During the promotion, the company decided to close access to the main section of the site, citing the fact that online purchases would not be available, or so that visitors would not compare prices with and without a discount.
Black Friday at Technomarket
Fashion stores and perfumes
Bulgarian shoe manufacturer Tendenz is also taking part in the discount promotion. Discounts of up to 50% are offered on different categories of shoes. The manufacturer indicates the price before and the discount field. The purchase can be made online, but we would not recommend it, since in addition to low prices, the store is famous for its low quality; it is better to choose and buy in the store. In addition to the Black Friday promotion, there is a 70% discount on last year's shoe collection. The timing of the promotion is not specified.
World famous clothing brands such as H&M (20% only on November 24), Bershka (up to 50%), Forever21 (up to 30%), Pull&bear (20% on November 24-25), Mango (30%), NewYorker (up to 50 %), Benetton (20% only on November 24-25), Levi's (30%) and many others are also taking part in the promotion. The sports brand Adidas offers up to 50% discounts. The DM cosmetics and household chemicals store chain is also participating in the promotion - 20% only on November 23-24. Perfume stores of a higher price category Yves Rocher, Sephora, BodyShop, Douglas Rivoli do not offer discounts in Bulgaria. The Refan store, famous for its oil rose products, also remained aloof.
Black Friday in Optics Black Friday in Tendenz Black Friday in Pull&Bear
Other product categories
In addition to the fashion segment, the Subra pharmacy chain is participating in the promotion. Optical stores offer significant discounts on glasses from famous brands. The eMAG online store, which combines various types of goods, gives customers large discounts from November 24 to 26. Unlike Black Friday in the Russian Federation, neither restaurants nor grocery store chains are planning to hold promotions.
Output
To summarize, we can say that the Black Friday promotion is actively carried out in Bulgaria. Participation is mainly carried out by large chain stores and international brands in the mid-price segment. On average, discounts are offered no more than 50%. The duration of the promotion varies from store to store, some companies traditionally stick to a day, others organize a sale for a whole week. In conclusion, it is worth noting that the low level of income of the majority of the Bulgarian population does not contribute to Black Friday on such a grand scale as in European countries and the USA.