Black Friday Handout PDF

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Download Black Friday Handout PDF

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Why do people act the way they do on Black Friday? Traditionally Black Friday was the name given to the day after American holiday Thanksgiving, when shops in America drop their prices for 24 hours. It was designed by shops and other retailers to encourage people to spend money in the run-up to Christmas - and it's usually the year's busiest shopping day there. Shoppers queue up, sometimes for days, to get their hands on a bargain. Shops in the UK started to copy America because they realised it's a way to get people to spend a lot of money all at once. Footage of people fighting to get the best deals made headlines. However, in the six years since Black Friday first arrived in the UK, the action has shifted away from high street stores as bargain hunters opt to shop on the web. Many stores now offer discounts all week. "Black Friday is designed around scarcity," explains Kate Nightingale, a customer psychologist. The sales operate around the fact that there is a limited supply of goods and the most desirable items will run out quickly. It triggers a fear of missing out which drives people to buy faster. "We start to become a bit more competitive," says Nightingale. "Our basic primal instincts are starting to wake up even if we don't need the items that we actually buy." Key to this atmosphere is building up a sense of anticipation. Retailers have to ensure that people have heard of the offers that will be available. Black Friday needs to be turned into an event like Valentine's Day or Halloween. Retailers will use emails, adverts, social media updates, and glaring website messages in the weeks leading up to Black Friday. There are lots of tricks that can be used to increase someone's need to buy something. Old prices will be crossed out and new prices displayed in a much bigger, brighter font. There might be spotlights on particular displays that are placed near walkways to make them hard to miss. Music can also influence people's shopping habits, says Nightingale. "We are naturally attracted to the direction of music so if a speaker is on the right and there are two choices of TV sets on the shelf next to the speaker, we will tend to choose the one on the right." The problem for shoppers is that the atmosphere on Black Friday makes it harder to spot a good deal from a bad one. People are in an emotional state and it becomes harder to assess details such as pricing, product quality and technical features. "We are not able to process as much information if we are in an emotional, adrenaline-driven environment," argues Nightingale. The aggressive sales tactics and adrenaline-fuelled atmosphere can be exhausting. People get used to sales techniques and they can begin to backfire as shoppers get irritated by them. But it's not likely to stop Black Friday. Scoring a bargain gives customers a sense of achievement that can be a reward in itself. Adapted from BBC News...