Black Friday Around the World - See How Different Countries Do It

For Australia, Black Friday hasn’t been around all that long. However, the same can be said for many countries around the world, with the exception of the United States. Obviously, we’re well aware of Black Friday having a controversial double meaning in Australia. Still, we’re not here to talk about that right now. Instead, we want to focus on the way Black Friday around the world works. We’re going to look at how different countries do it and see how different it is from how we in Australia go about our Black Friday sales! Let’s get started.

The United States: Birthplace of Black Friday

Black Friday has roots in The United States, having started in the 80s. However, Black Friday falls on the first Friday post-Thanksgiving. This makes the sale unique in the US, as no other country celebrates this holiday. Also, for the US, Black Friday falls on a 4-day weekend, meaning it’s got the highest potential to make a ton of money. If we’re going by consumer spending, the United States beats every country in the world. For a long time, retailers opened their doors at 6. By this time, thousands of people were already waiting. In recent years, they’ve opened up sometimes an hour or two earlier.

Black Friday is the United States' busiest and craziest day of shopping all year!

Canada

Canada was extremely resistant to Black Friday seeping into their country. Considering its direct neighbour, the United States, it was poised to be the next adopter of the ‘Black Friday’ concept. It held out for decades, but eventually, they were forced to admit defeat. So what made them embrace Black Friday? Canadians who lived close to the border were taking trips to the United States to take advantage of the insane deals. Additionally, their currency value was relatively strong in the early 2000s. Retailers began creating their Black Friday sales to dissuade Canadians from leaving the country to shop. They only truly got into the spirit of things come 2008/2009 and managed to do phenomenally in 2012 and have only been growing since!

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom didn’t embrace Black Friday for over three decades. However, in 2010 it began spreading when US-based companies ran Black Friday sales in the country. Until the 2010s, Black Friday was a term used for the NHS and Police, referring to the Friday before Christmas when emergency services activated contingency plans to deal with the increased workloads. The brands that started the ripple effect were Amazon UK, Asda, Argos, Very, John Lewis, and a smattering of others. Since then, it’s become a significant day for shopping in the UK, and in 2016 brought in £1.23 billion, which was a 2.2% increase over 2015. It’s only been getting better since then!

France

France is still somewhat in the process of adopting Black Friday into its shopping culture. In 2014, US-based brands Amazon and Apple were offering discounts on certain products that went as high as 85%. A lot of French brands and retailers are sticking to online versions of Black Friday. There have been ongoing talks in France about changing Black Friday to something else. Additionally, the French government made it, so e-commerce businesses had to postpone Black Friday sales until a week later.

Germany

Germany decided to embrace Black Friday but alter it slightly. Instead of it being one day, it’s referred to as ‘Black Week’ and ‘Black Shopping.’ It’s not necessarily the same intensity as Black Friday in other parts of the world. For starters, hours remain the same, and most stores are closed on Sundays. Secondly, the prices aren’t heavily reduced. While they’re definitely cheaper, they’re not on the same level as other countries' intense price reductions.

Switzerland

Even Switzerland gets involved in Black Friday! The country began in 2015 when Manor- a Swiss retailer- launched their own Black Friday sale. After that, year after year, more Swiss businesses joined in. They also engage in a ‘Black Week’ type of sale. However, in recent years a day referred to as ‘Singles Day’ might see Black Friday’s importance wane in a country still new to the concept and not as feverish about it as America and other countries.

Growing Black Friday Sales Around The World

Other countries are also engaging in Black Friday. Still, they’re not even close to the level of some of the other countries mentioned:

- New Zealand began Black Friday sales in 2015 with Noel Leeming, Harvey Norman, and The Warehouse. By 2018 the list of retailers had grown exponentially. 2016 to 2017 saw a 10% increase in Black Friday sales.

- Norway introduced Black Friday as a publicity stunt in 2010. Since then, it’s taken off and has been growing annually for over a decade.

- 2014 saw a lot of countries beginning to introduce the sale to their markets, including South Africa, Sweden, Nigeria, Lebanon, Ireland, France, Finland, Italy, Denmark, Colombia, and Bolivia.

- In Mexico, Black Friday has a different name and goes by El Buen Fin, which means ‘The Good Weekend.’ Since 2011 El Buen Fin has become a popular weekend of specials in the country.

- The UAE does its own version of Black Friday. It primarily exists online and is referred to as Yellow Friday. This logic extends to Iran and Saudi Arabia. It’s around the same time as Black Friday in the US.

- 2016 saw Black Friday coming to Greece, Ukraine, Belgium, and Poland.

- Belgium retailers began an aggressive marketing campaign in 2016 to get people shopping on the recently embraced Black Friday sales.

- India does engage in Black Friday, but they’ve scheduled it closer to their festive period of October when Diwali takes place.

Conclusion

Regardless of how Black Friday is conducted around the world, here in Australia, we’re all in! Catch marketplace is gearing up for an unforgettable Black Friday sale. We’re preparing to bring you some of the best deals in Australia. So set up your account today and start creating your wishlists to be ready for Black Friday Australia 2024!