Retailers have indicated that they will offer discounts between 10-70% on a wide variety of items.”]The biggest shopping day of the year is just around the corner. Black Friday will take place next Friday, November 25th, and several local businesses have already planned their strategies to offer ticos and gringos an unforgettable shopping experience.
Play, Cemaco, EPA, Carrion, Office Depot, Wal-Mart, and Gollo are some of the stores that will offer special Black Friday deals and discounts to Costa Rican shoppers.
Retailers have indicated that they will offer discounts between 10-70% on a wide variety of items, including electronics, house hold appliances, videogames, toys, and others.
In addition, a large number of stores will open their doors at earlier times, and they will have extended office hours.
Some stores will be opened until midnight in order to increase the flow of customer traffic to their location.
Mailbox companies have also developed their own marketing strategies to take advantage of the Black Friday fever and increase the number of orders from online shoppers.
For instance, Mailboxes Etc will offer a reduced fee of $8 per kg for all orders place between November and December. The regular fee is $9.50 per kg. The company will offer free memberships to new customers too.
Meanwhile, Aerocasillas will not charge any commission fee to shoppers if they place their order with a representative and pay cash. If they use a credit card, shoppers will be charged only a 4% commission fee instead of 8% which is the standard fee.
Another well-known mailbox company, Jetbox, will offer a 25% discount on shipping services to all their clients.
Speedbox will also be cashing in on Black Friday by offering even greater discounts on original offers posted by retailers. For instance, if an item costs $300, Speedbox will offer it to its clients at a lower price.
At www.blackfridaycr.com ticos can check special deals and discounts offered by local and international retailers such as Ebay and Amazon. The site also includes important information on how to use PayPal and how to buy products online.
[captionpix imgsrc=”https://thecostaricanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/BlackF2.jpg” align=”right” captiontext=”Black Friday has been the busiest shopping day in the US since 2002, except for 2004 when it ranked second.”]According to Kristian Herrero, owner of the website, the idea was to create a website that summarizes all the activities of Black Friday.
“Visits to the website increased 10 times between September and November” Herrero said.
“For that day, we are expecting more than 10 thousand visits to the website” he added.
Herrero also said that an estimate of 1000 users visit the website every day.
A Brief History of Black Friday
Black Friday is the next Friday after Thanksgiving, and it is considered for many as the beginning of the holiday season in the US.
The term originated in Philadelphia in the 1960’s, when it was used by police officers to describe the heavy traffic that occurred the day after Thanksgiving.
Years later, the term began to be used to indicate that retailers’ balance sheets “moved in the black”, thus showing a profit. The term gained popularity and in the 1990’s Black Friday became an official retail holiday.
According to Shopper Trak, a retail data analysis firm, Black Friday has been the busiest shopping day in the US since 2002, except for 2004 when it ranked second.
Black Friday became popular among ticos only a few years ago, primarily due to the growing use of the Internet and the arrival of airmail companies that offered Costa Ricans the chance to buy products online at a cheaper price and have them shipped to their homes at low rates.
Aware of this, local retailers then decided to start offering their own version of the Black Friday in order to lure shoppers to their stores.
by David Gómez for TheCostaRicaNews.com[captionpix
