just eight years ago, virtually no one in Spain knew of the existence of Black Friday. Today it has become the kick-off official start of the christmas shopping. The date, originally on the Friday before the holiday weekend, thanksgiving in the U.S., the imported large operators and has already become a whole campaign of sales concentrated in a day (or three or four in some brands), which allows us a glimpse of how sales will be for Christmas, the highlight of the trade.
After seven years in Spain, and despite some forecasts of wear and tear, the phenomenon keeps force, with large and small traders in all sectors. But to the former it works better the hook. In the centre of Madrid, the streets have been filling this Friday. The Christmas lights were lit for the evening and the shops already had christmas decorations. It coincided also with the opening of the renovation of the Gran Via, the streets nearby are encouraged with a certain environment prenavideño and festive.
In the stores, the products most sought after by lovers of the bargains were the textile and the technology. The section of mobile phones and tvs were the most popular by the customers of the Fnac in plaza del Callao. “This is a day very intense, you see more people than yesterday, despite the fact that we also had discounts,” confided a saleswoman at mid-afternoon. “We are overwhelmed, we do not stop to meet people,” commented two dependents of the music section of the Fnac.
In the Gran Via, the consumers were primarily looking for offers in the big chains of clothing. The queues were formed in the cases of Zara, Primark or Lefties. Laura and Marta, two young twenty year old girls had spent the whole day shopping. “We’ve bought a lot of clothes, there are many discounts of 20% and 30%,” said Laura. “In the morning was more pleasant, there would be so many people. Now in the afternoon it is a little overwhelming and there is a long wait to pay,” protested Martha.
“Is the best campaign of the year along with the air conditioning,” says a dependent of Tien 21
The stores and e-commerce companies have turned into the deals of black Friday. Not only in the center of the city. Some shops of the Avenida de la Albufera, in the district of madrid de Vallecas, announced also in their window that they had jumped on the bandwagon Pashacasino of the Black Friday. And on the street Marcelo Usera, some of the small neighborhood stores, also tested with the discounts. However, in the small trade of the neighborhood, the shopkeepers recognized that they were not noticing a spike in their sales, despite the fact that some had been zeroing in on products the entire week.
“The people prefer to buy on the Internet,”
“I put 15% discounts on the entire catalog for this Friday and Saturday, but very few consumers are interested. I am only in the store. People prefer buying clothes over the Internet even if it is of worse quality, because it is the sent home and it is cheaper. The small shops can’t compete with that,” he said resignedly Antonio Herranz, owner of a fashion shop for man in Vallecas.
In other nearby shopping, a shoe store, the owner had also not been successful. Had put discounts of up to 70% on some products and 50% in the rest of the catalog. But the store was nearly empty.
The big brands, or at least, chains of shops, are the ones that are more part of the cake. Even outside of the great commercial routes. Rafael Heras, manager of a establishment of home appliances Tien 21 in the Avenida de la Albufera, stated that it was still a good day. “We’ve had more sales throughout the week. It is the best campaign of the year along with the air conditioning,” she said. Ensured that the sales that once were only being made during the Christmas campaign, they have now advance to the last weeks of November. The day also seemed to smile at the string of sports Gálvez. “We do discounts this Friday and this Saturday. The people have begun to be interested in, and we have a good morning of sales. Last year we climbed a lot, we had a lot of turnover,” he stated, optimistic, Amado Fernandez, manager of the store.
Long queues in the cases of Zara, Primark or Lefties
