A different “Black Friday”: more actions in supermarkets than buyers, emails of “breakdowns”. shops

Promotions started earlier

A few days before Black Friday, a certain clothing and beauty store informed customers about text messages about Black Friday promotions via short messages: -50 percent. for clothing by entering a special discount code, -50 percent. buy beauty services goods before the end of the month.

However, with the pandemic severely restricting the movement of people and more discounts online, there was no shortage of sales offered in supermarkets on the eve of Black Friday. The stands hanging next to the stores late at night announced the promotions, which ranged from 15 to 50 percent.

A photographer from Delfi also recorded what was happening in Vilnius’ biggest shopping centers “Akropolis” and “Ozas” on Friday afternoon. The captured shots show the windows glued to the promotions offered.

Security has more than doubled

Representatives of large supermarkets interviewed by Delfi said that they themselves did not organize the actions and sales, taking into account the situation due to the pandemic, which was more at the initiative of the tenants themselves.

Ina Augulienė, manager of the Ozas shopping and entertainment center and representative of Newsec Property Management, said that since the situation due to this year’s pandemic is different than usual, the shopping center itself did not encourage active communication about the sales of the Black friday

“We are facing the challenge of a pandemic, so together with our partners we are very aware that we cannot invite visitors to a short, one-day or multi-day sale, which could lead to a sudden and concentrated increase in sales. traffic.

With this in mind, most tenants will apply the specials for a longer period, combining them with the usual mid-season offer.

The offers and the duration of the discounts are decided by the tenants themselves: some of the discounts will be applied throughout this week, and some tenants will apply the offers for a longer period, ”he said, although the discounts are visible in many supermarkets . communication was not encouraging.

According to I. Augulienė, the “Ozas” shopping and entertainment center has more than doubled the number of security guards since Friday this weekend.

At the main entrances, visitors will be greeted by security guards, who will remind them of the recommendation to disinfect their hands and check whether the protective masks are used correctly. Security guards will also monitor compliance with recommended distances of at least 2 meters between visitors in the shopping center, monitor visitor flows and store facilities.

The number of employees providing cleaning and disinfection services will also increase. They will make sure there is no lack of soap, disinfectants, napkins, and more often they will disinfect the surfaces that are most frequently touched: handles, armrests, elevator buttons, handrails, etc. ”, He named.

Birutė Kalanovaitė, manager of the Panorama Mall, also stated that today it is really possible to find discounts at individual retailers.

“Those of our tenants who have decided to make rebates or apply discounts in physical stores, in any case, give priority to the safety of visitors and employees, as regulated by the Government,” he said. surfaces, free masks, advanced air filters, toilets and special lamps for environmental disinfection are distributed in the toilets and staff rooms.

“We are not only taking these enhanced measures on Black Friday, we will also enforce them as winter break approaches and continue to monitor what we can do to ensure greater safety for visitors and staff,” he said.

Sales will last longer

Speaking about the Black Friday discounts, Dominykas Mertinas, head of the communication department of Akropolis Group, said that Akropoliai in Vilnius, Klaipėda and Šiauliai had never organized these sales as a joint campaign connecting all tenants and the three shopping centers and of entertainment.

“It is true that individual tenants on their own initiative apply individual blackout weekend offers, which, in order to distribute traffic and maintain all safety requirements, last from 3 days to a week.

“Which goods or groups of goods are subject to discounts, their size is determined by the stores themselves,” he said, adding that with a focus on safety, no short-term one-day or end-of-day promotions have been organized. week in Akropolis since spring.

He also assured that after the introduction of the second quarantine in November, about 40 percent of the three “Acropolis” will arrive. fewer buyers compared to the same period last year.

“To ensure safety, we are helped by constant attention to interior ventilation, surface disinfection, flow management, additional investment of hundreds of thousands in equipment that automatically disinfects escalator and moving walk handrails, and air in elevator cars with UV rays, “said D. Mertin.

Turnover has increased, pages “Broken”

Marius Pareščius, vice president of development at the financial technologies group Paysera, told Delfi shortly before noon that on Black Friday the company noticed a significant increase in the flow of settlements.

“In the Lithuanian stores, served by Paysera and whose proportion of settlements go through Paysera, the increase of settlements has increased several times, I would say about three times, if we compare it with a similar day a week ago.

“Another thing is that we have consumers, bank customers who have credit cards with us, and we see that our consumers are actively shopping today,” he said.

M. Pareščius also explained that today the pages of some e-commerce stores do not support the flow of visitors and are “broken”.

“The pages that planned the campaigns received a lot of user traffic, so the systems are not supported today,” he said.

Planning a record

According to Ernestas Kačerauskas, online marketing manager of the Pigu.lt shopping center, taking into account the trends of recent years, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on consumer habits and the limitations of physical stores, this “Black Friday” and. trade, as previously stated in a sent press release, should hit a record.

“2020 is a truly extraordinary year for everyone. E. business sector.

A recent Google poll found that up to 73 percent of Americans promise to buy more online on Black Friday this year than last year. Taking into account that due to the pandemic e. trade has grown extremely fast and the number of new users has increased, e. Merchant sales this year should be much higher than last year, ”said E. Kačerauskas.

He added that not only Americans, but also residents of the Baltic states are in the mood to shop more and more often online, and this trend has been evident since the first quarantine.

“In the spring, during the peak of Pigu.lt, we recorded around 80 percent higher sales. Sales also grew in Latvia and Estonia. This Lonely Day alone (November 11) surpassed last year’s” Black Friday ” in all volumes, both from customers and goods and sellers. We estimate that customers from the three Baltic countries bought about 50 thousand goods, “he said.

According to the interlocutor, the global “Black Friday” trends are similar every year: shoppers generally want to buy clothes and shoes, and also try not to miss out on big discounts on larger purchases: electronics – TVs, computers or smart devices, household appliances and furniture.