The rise and rise of Black Friday
James Brown
Head of Commercial @ Comtec Translations - a B Corp Language Localisation Agency | Marketing Localisation Expert, helping B2C/B2B brands and agencies thrive internationally
More and more clients are asking us about “Black Friday” - where it’s observed, how it translates, when exactly it starts.
So we’ve pulled together some facts and figures that might be useful:
??Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, which is always on a Thursday. This year, it’s on Friday November 23rd.
??Its etymology is disputed, but it commonly refers to retailers generating enough revenue to put them “in the black”.
??It started in the US, but is now observed by 50-60% of the 195 countries in the world
?Countries that don’t participate tend to be ones that are vocal in being anti-capitalist (North Korea, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan)
????Bangladesh actively protests Black Friday (Bangladesh provides a lot of the manufacturing muscle for US-based retailers) and have held their own shopping holiday called Fatafati Friday since 2017.?
????Another anti Black Friday movement is Green Friday, celebrated on the same day. It originated in Canada in 1992 and was intended as a “buy nothing day”.
????The UAE has something called “Noon Yellow Friday”, also on the same day and also with massive discounts offered by retailers.
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????Mexico has “El Buen Fin”, which refers to the weekend of Black Friday, where discounts are available online and in-store. Its slogan translates as “The cheapest weekend of the year”.
???Typically, discounts are in the 10-20% range, although discounts up to 30% or even 50% aren’t uncommon.
??Cyber Monday is becoming more popular, too. It’s the Monday after Black Friday (this year, it’ll be Monday 27th November.
??A lot of online retailers will run sales campaigns for the two weeks before Black Friday, and for a week after, calling it “Cyber Week”
??From our research, it doesn’t look like the actual names “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday” usually get translated, but it’s always best to check.?
??And a final tip for marketers:
Make sure you localise your websites. Research shows 76% of online shoppers prefer to buy products with information in their native language, and a whopping 40% will never buy from websites in other languages.
Want help localising your sales campaigns? Get in touch - we’d love to help.
#sales #blackfriday #marketing #marketingagency #websites #ecommerce