We’ve just had Black Friday. No, Black Week. Black month?!I swear I’ve had more emails offering me 35–60% off at seemingly every retailer I’ve bought from or thought about buying from than any year before. Digital marketers are scraping their opt-in lists to enlicit any kind of response more intensly than ever.
And just when you think it’s going to settle down… it’s ‘Cyber’Monday’—massive savings on pet food for the dog you used to have, anyone?! It’s all the Americans’ fault. Black Friday is their creation, celebrated the Friday after Thanksgiving. We don’t even have Thanksgiving. It’s like getting the hangover without the night out. My favourite low-grade window sticker witnessed over ‘the Blackness’ was ‘Black Friday—this weekend only’. Such is the desire to pile high and sell cheap that they have disregarded the concept of a weekend. Who needs days of the week when there are deals to be had?
The trouble is, unless you want a pair of trainers in sizes three or fourteen or an XXL top that no one wanted the season before last, most of the deals are rubbish. Some retailers have to buy old stock or low-grade items just to peddle them to us on Black Friday and its retro internet-branded weekday offshoot. The noise of bargains is almost deafening, yet I still find myself scrolling through the Selfridges email to see ridiculously priced items with 40% off (and yet still ridiculously priced) just for fun. They ‘opt out’ of Black Friday but happen to send a discount email that day every year as part of their own, unique sale strategy, like restaurants that do other fests that aren’t a Tenner. My advice? Be strong. Resist.
Once the chaos is over, it actually feels like it’s time for Christmas, and Christmas shopping is as it should be. You can go to your favourite retailers and pick anything in the range in a more festive and less black environment. Good things come to those who wait. Check out some of the gifts in our local Gift Guide (p. 24) for ideas or our Tech Must-Haves for 2024 (p. 138) for inspiration. Or why not head down to The Royal Square to grab a local gift from a local producer at the Genuine Jersey Christmas Market (see p. 41)? See you there!
BD
