Black FriDay to Black FriWeek: Indian e-commerce attempts to replicate the popular American sale

Why wait for a US- settled brother or uncle to shop at the discount stores on Black Friday? The sales have now begun to take over India as well. In fact, like a typical Indian wedding, the Black Friday sale in India goes on for an entire week!

It’s a well-known fact that the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are a thunderous success in the USA, year after year. The sales go live the weekend after Thanksgiving Day, celebrated in the last week of November.

The Black Friday frenzy

Most retailers offer unbelievable promotional sales to launch the holiday shopping season.  It has been predicted that Americans would spend 13 billion dollars to shop on Black Friday in 2014. In recent times, the trend has also been replicated in the UK. Needless to say, they attract millions of shoppers, sometimes bringing the entire city to a grinding halt. It seems like Indian e-commerce has been learning a thing or two from its American counterparts. This year, several prominent online marketplaces in India launched their own versions of the Black Friday sales.

From the West to the East

Earlier on November 11, e-commerce stores in India had tried cashing in on the popularity of the ‘Singles Day’ sale launched by Alibaba. With Black Friday, they seem to have gone a step further. Instead of just one single day, online stores in India are offering weeklong discounts to shoppers. Ebay is offering up to an unbelievable 80 percent off on products ranging from electronics to skincare. Reflecting the deals offered in the US, these products would also be shipped for free, across India. Fashionandyou.com, which primarily sells fashion products, offered an extra 20 percent off on any order- to correspond with the Black Friday discounts. Snapdeal was not far behind, offering a sale running from 9 am to 9 pm. Myntra has come out trumps by merging both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, calling it the ‘Super Weekend Sale’. Offers include flat 60 percent off on select premium brands.

As the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are still running in India, a final judgment cannot yet be passed on how successful they are in this country. The sales have definitely received ample publicity and seem to be gathering unprecedented popularity, but the final verdict can only be passed after about a week. For now, we wait and watch.