It is the season of clearance or percentage discount promotion sales, where selected products are sold at ridiculously low prices both online and offline, often referred to as Black Friday. Nigerians, especially retail traders, are always eager for opportunities like this, especially when it is close to the yuletide season. It is a period when one can get as much as 99 percent off selected goods.
Black Friday is an informal name for the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Black Friday has been regarded as the beginning of America’s Christmas shopping season since 1952, although the term “Black Friday” didn’t become widely used until more recent decades. This culture of Black Friday has since spread to different parts of the world.
Nigeria is no exception, and on this year’s Black Friday, shoppers rushed to the malls looking for great discounts on products that are usually more expensive. Local traders were present to seize this opportunity as well.
At the Ikeja City Mall (ICM), retail traders jostled with consumers for products which they would be selling later at their shops, as the profit margins realised from these heavily discounted goods were too good to miss.
Queues of distributors’ vehicles (like Indomie instant noodles) took almost half the parking space in the mall, as car owners struggled for the remaining space. This they did to meet the demand for discounted products that sold the most.
Sales Sales Sales
A visit to the popular Ikeja City Mall (ICM), revealed that South African retail brand, Shoprite, had its Black Friday sales ongoing, last Friday. Prices of popular instant noodles, Indomie, and malt drink, Malta Guinness, were crashed to the point where Malta Guinness that normally sold for N150, was sold for N85.
A conversation with a member of the staff revealed that most of the shoppers were retailers as they bought in bulk. The staff who preferred to be anonymous, also said shoppers were literally fighting each other for the available products on display. He said, “If you were here yesterday, you wouldn’t be able to get in, as the shopping hall was jam-packed with shoppers. They were fighting to get their share of the products with discounts. Products like Malta Guinness and Indomie sold the most.”
Club owners were not left out, as they headed to the liquor spot, where Red and Black Label were offered at a 60% discount. These club owners sell liquor such as Red Label at much higher prices.
“If you look at the stands for Red and Black Label whiskies, you will notice it is currently empty. Most of the people who cleaned them out are majorly club and bar owners and they will sell them for nothing less than N15,000,” a staff at ICM confirmed.
Other brands still in the mood for Black Friday
Maybrands, at the ICM is offering a 40 percent discount on all its wrist watches. Twice As Nice is also offering as much as 90 percent off its shirts. A visit to Mr P shop in ICM revealed that selected products, ranging from lingerie to footwear, were offered for 50 percent off.
Spar’s Black Friday 8 Sale which started on November 22nd, shows that the Indian retailer is offering mostly electronics with as much as 43 percent discounts. A visit to the Opebi outlet of Spar revealed that the usually sparse mall had a huge number of shoppers with shopping carts so filled up, that one would think there was a free giveaway ongoing.
Jumia is also having it Black Friday sales tagged, Black Fridays, which started November 2, 2018. Asides the regular discounts on products, Jumia is offering ridiculous discounts of 99 percent on selected products for each Friday in the month of November. The online shop has also selected products put up for crash sales at selected times of the day which can only be accessed via their mobile application.
Zinox Konga is not left out, as the ecommerce platform is currently having its Yakata Sales tagged ‘The Final Jara’, with products on display having as much as 94 percent discounts on their website. The sales run from November 8 to 30, 2018.
If you are yet to partake of the goodies from these shops, you might want to hurry while their offers last.