BLACK FRIDAY: BLACK FRIDAY: LESS CROWDED SHOPS

MBABANE – In 2019, a South Africa-based audit firm rated Eswatini as the 13th Black Friday-obsessed country.

According to the audit firm’s website, it used data from Google Trends to understand where, in what cities and towns; Black Friday was more prominent in internet searches.
Now, is Eswatini still obsessed with Black Friday? Yesterday, unlike in previous years, where it was not uncommon to see several emaSwati pushing trolleys and even wheelbarrows filled to the brim, this was not the case. In fact, some of the shops were not fully-packed like in the past.

Slowly

In fact, some shop owners admitted that business was moving slowly but hoped that it would pick up as the day progressed. This was between 10am -1pm yesterday.
Instead, while shoppers do take advantage of low prices, many of them were spotted buying  essential month end items as per the norm, especially breakfast cereal. So, where were the shoppers who once flocked  to the shops in great numbers?

This was the question  yesterday during the Black Friday shopping. Every, year, Black Friday falls on the Friday after the fourth Thursday of November. It is a day when shops carry out what they term big sales of some of their products, promising discounts as well as gifts to shoppers. Some of the shops  this publication visited around Mbabane town centre included the Mbabane Shoprite at the Corporate Plaza . Inasmuch as there were not many people, it was noted that shoppers arrived as early as 5am and waited for the doors to open at 7am. There were about 20 people.

Portions

One of the shoppers, Sonnyboy Mabuza, stated that all he wanted were chicken portions. He said he wanted to buy the portions because they are usually cheap during Black Friday.
He said he hoped the prices would be as low as they were last year so that he could at least enjoy the discount.  Another shopper, Emkelwe Vilakati, said for her, buying on Black Friday is something she does every year.  She was asked if she felt that the discounts were genuine. Her response was that the prices were usually half the price she normally spends on basic groceries  a month. She also revealed cereal was usually cheaper on Black Friday.

Laughter

Another buyer, Bongiwe Mthembu, however, said she did not believe that Black Friday exists. “Is there a thing called Black Friday?” she asked, before bursting into laughter. She said the prices were not as low as they are usually advertised and that compared to the past, items were getting more expensive.  Noteworthy, Black Friday is not just for shops that sell food . From car dealers to home appliance suppliers, each of them promote Black Friday in a unique way. Attempts were made to reach some of the managers of the larger supermarkets but they referred comments to other officials stating that they were not authorised to address the media.

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