Palma’s retail sector as a whole has reported that Black Friday has lived up to its billing with a marked increase in business. Majorcan retailers have enthusiastically embraced Black Friday, a concept with no tradition in the country and of which few people were aware of until recently. But in Palma and at the hypermarkets around the island, consumers certainly made up for it and many small and large retailers are going to continue offering Black Friday discounts until Saturday midnight and, in the case of El Cortes Inglés, the offers will continue on Sunday. El Cortes Inglés also made the most of today by launching Operation Kilo to help collect food for the needy this Christmas.
It was only three years ago that a small group of Spanish stores first decided to introduce the idea of a pre-Christmas sale day of the kind held in the US after Thanksgiving. Last year, they were joined by some of the country’s largest retailers, including department store chain El Corte Inglés, fashion giant Mango and several brands in the Inditex group – the parent company of clothing chain Zara. And this year in Palma, 400 small to medium-sized retailers and businesses have joined the large retailers in the Black Friday event.
The retail sector has come to the conclusion that this is an ideal sales pitch with Christmas just around the corner and today the big interest from consumers has ben in technology products and clothing. According to the retail associations, there has been a steady flow of consumers throughout the day, although numbers increased during the afternoon and into the evening as people began knocking off work for the weekend. Business is expected to be brisk again tomorrow for those who could not cash in on Black Friday.
But the consumer organisation Facua warned that some retailers may be out to con shoppers over the weekend by putting up their prices before “reducing” them, so beware. Facua said that this practice is quite common during sales periods and a special Twitter account #TimoBlackFriday for photographs of false sales items to be sent to has been created.