Black Friday has become the traditional day for big discounts on shopping in the US. Now Amazon is bringing the concept to the UK.
Taking place the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday sees US retailers offer the kind of discounts that often have bargain hunters queuing up late at night to be first through the doors at opening time.
For years, those of us outside the US have looked on jealously as tech blogs excitedly talked about leaked deals on gadgets in the run up to the last Friday of November. This year will be different as Amazon is bringing the Black Friday concept to the UK. On its website, the retailer promises “Unbelievable, pinch-me-to-prove-they’re-real, Black Friday deals” which will be unveiled on Monday 22 November at www.amazon.co.uk/blackfriday.
This is the first time we’re aware of the term “Black Friday” being used in marketing in the UK, although Apple did offer modest discounts to UK customers on that day last year without actually labelling it as Black Friday. Given how competitive the retail sector is, might we see Amazon’s UK rivals like Play.com offer similar discounts? Give it a few years and maybe Brits will be celebrating Thanksgiving too.
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