As the shopping frenzy kicks off this last week of November, consumers are jostling for the hottest deals across stores. The rise of large malls and the influx of hard discounters into the retailing ecosystem have further deepened popular shopping windows in Nigeria. Therefore, the global ‘Black Friday’ sales spree is fast gaining ground in Nigeria, a coincidence with an insight shared on CNBC by Gerald Storch, the former Chief Executive Officer of Toy R Us, while lamenting the decline of department stores that refuse to follow popular trends.
Since ‘Black Friday’ has been exported across borders, and buoyed by the rise of e-commerce, Storch admits, “All that’s happened is the event is bigger than it ever was, just more of the sales are taking place on Thursday, which used to have zero sales”.
“Friday is not quite as big as it was, Saturday’s not as big as it was, but in total it’s a huge event. It is still vitally important to the success of all retailers”, he added.
Hence in Nigeria, ‘Black Friday’ has become an important part of e-tailers and brick and mortar’s sales strategy. This Friday 29th November, 2019, approximately 4 weeks to Christmas, Jumia is selling almost at 70% off price. Shoprite Nigeria offers 50% off across its stores, while Spar is discounting at 70%. Many other popular retail stores, online and offline, are following the gig, selling between 40% and 80% off list price.
Overall, it sounds like the best time to hit the stores and stock up for Christmas – that is if you are on the shopping side. But if you are selling, those wares won’t move unless you tag along with the discount spree and chop off some few Naira off your list price this weekend.
