By Marcos Gouvêa de Souza, founder and general manager of the GS & Gouvêa de Souza Group
At this point in time, wanting to change Black Friday in the retail calendar has the same meaning as wanting to change the Christmas date. The promotion is already integrated in the consumer's mind and many are organizing to take advantage of it in the best possible way, generating sales that this year could reach close to R$2 billion.
Promotion is constantly evolving and continues to grow in importance, as it has spread to other sectors of consumption and purchasing channels, purging those that created false offers and were not properly prepared to meet the strong growth in demand.
For those who operate exclusively with the digital channel or have a strong dependence on it, the date is - in fact - the “Christmas” of the sector, as it anticipates a movement that would only occur later, on the eve of the date, creating a strong impact on operations and logistics with very high costs and, sometimes, making it impossible to meet last-minute demand.
In fact, if it could have been ideally planned, the date of the promotion should be brought forward so that it would not be so close to Christmas - the biggest retail sales period. Or even if it was in the first half, creating a new promotional date past the peak of Christmas, for general inventory adjustment. "But you will not have everything", as the popular saying goes.
Because of this, other dates have been proposed, such as Consumer Day, on March 15, which is already becoming Consumer Week. Retail still depends a lot on these seasonal stimuli to leverage consumption.
Black Friday was born in the United States as a promotion that anticipated sales that were too focused on the Christmas period. He took advantage of the period of the traditional Thanksgiving Day holiday, which is of great importance there, to activate retail sales.
Its name comes from the idea that, from that moment on, retail companies started to make a profit on their operations of the year, since up to that point they operated in the red.
On the internet, Black Friday promotions from traditional retailers were incorporated into Cyber Monday, an action to mark a specific promotional period for e-commerce.
In Brazil, the movement was born led by the e-commerce channel and was only later incorporated by traditional stores. More recently, it has expanded into shopping malls, services, food and many other sectors.
Retail, in general, has always been dependent on promotions to stimulate consumption and promotional dates were created or adapted to renew this interest, such as the Bachelor's Day in China, celebrated on November 11, which this year should consolidate sales US$ 18 billion in just one day.
With the growth of electronic commerce, a new generation of promotions has emerged, expanding the alternatives to create these stimuli. In the North American market it is estimated that more than 80% of everything that is sold in retail there is sold with some promotion, discount, offer, liquidation or any other form of regular price reduction.
The internet only increased this percentage due to the almost infinite possibility of proposing something for each consumer, based on their individual behavior of search and interest, creating the customization of promotions based on the monitoring of their profile, attitude and history.
As a result, e-commerce in the world has grown much more than traditional retail, and this year it is expected to increase by 8.5%. Goldman-Sachs estimates that between 2016 and 2020, global sales will more than double and its share in more mature markets will represent more than a third of overall retail sales.
Today, the share of electronic commerce in the whole of retail in the United States represents close to 11%. In England it represents 15% and in Korea, considered the highest index, it reaches 18%. In Brazil it is at a level of 4%, but with a much higher growth than retail in general.
It is estimated that e-commerce will reach sales close to R$50 billion in 2017, with an expansion of around 12%, while retail as a whole is expected to grow between 1.5 and 2%.
As the popular saying also says, “water down the hill and fire uphill, no one is safe”, and this seems to be the figure to be remembered in the consolidation of Black Friday as an irreversible promotional date for retailers - physical and electronic - and, moving forward for other economic sectors, which can also benefit from the spirit that came to prevail in this period.
The message is clear: it is better to organize and program, and well, to enjoy it, as it must not change!
Marcos Gouvêa de Souza he is the founder and general director of the GS & Gouvêa de Souza Group, member and co-founder of IDV - Institute for the Development of Retail and IFB - Instituto Foodservice Brasil. He is also president of LIDE Comércio and a member of the Ebeltoft Group, a global alliance of specialized retail consultants in more than 25 countries.
Promotion is constantly evolving and continues to grow in importance, as it has spread to other sectors of consumption and purchasing channels, purging those that created false offers and were not properly prepared to meet the strong growth in demand.
For those who operate exclusively with the digital channel or have a strong dependence on it, the date is - in fact - the “Christmas” of the sector, as it anticipates a movement that would only occur later, on the eve of the date, creating a strong impact on operations and logistics with very high costs and, sometimes, making it impossible to meet last-minute demand.
In fact, if it could have been ideally planned, the date of the promotion should be brought forward so that it would not be so close to Christmas - the biggest retail sales period. Or even if it was in the first half, creating a new promotional date past the peak of Christmas, for general inventory adjustment. "But you will not have everything", as the popular saying goes.
Because of this, other dates have been proposed, such as Consumer Day, on March 15, which is already becoming Consumer Week. Retail still depends a lot on these seasonal stimuli to leverage consumption.
Black Friday was born in the United States as a promotion that anticipated sales that were too focused on the Christmas period. He took advantage of the period of the traditional Thanksgiving Day holiday, which is of great importance there, to activate retail sales.
Its name comes from the idea that, from that moment on, retail companies started to make a profit on their operations of the year, since up to that point they operated in the red.
On the internet, Black Friday promotions from traditional retailers were incorporated into Cyber Monday, an action to mark a specific promotional period for e-commerce.
In Brazil, the movement was born led by the e-commerce channel and was only later incorporated by traditional stores. More recently, it has expanded into shopping malls, services, food and many other sectors.
Retail, in general, has always been dependent on promotions to stimulate consumption and promotional dates were created or adapted to renew this interest, such as the Bachelor's Day in China, celebrated on November 11, which this year should consolidate sales US$ 18 billion in just one day.
With the growth of electronic commerce, a new generation of promotions has emerged, expanding the alternatives to create these stimuli. In the North American market it is estimated that more than 80% of everything that is sold in retail there is sold with some promotion, discount, offer, liquidation or any other form of regular price reduction.
The internet only increased this percentage due to the almost infinite possibility of proposing something for each consumer, based on their individual behavior of search and interest, creating the customization of promotions based on the monitoring of their profile, attitude and history.
As a result, e-commerce in the world has grown much more than traditional retail, and this year it is expected to increase by 8.5%. Goldman-Sachs estimates that between 2016 and 2020, global sales will more than double and its share in more mature markets will represent more than a third of overall retail sales.
Today, the share of electronic commerce in the whole of retail in the United States represents close to 11%. In England it represents 15% and in Korea, considered the highest index, it reaches 18%. In Brazil it is at a level of 4%, but with a much higher growth than retail in general.
It is estimated that e-commerce will reach sales close to R$50 billion in 2017, with an expansion of around 12%, while retail as a whole is expected to grow between 1.5 and 2%.
As the popular saying also says, “water down the hill and fire uphill, no one is safe”, and this seems to be the figure to be remembered in the consolidation of Black Friday as an irreversible promotional date for retailers - physical and electronic - and, moving forward for other economic sectors, which can also benefit from the spirit that came to prevail in this period.
The message is clear: it is better to organize and program, and well, to enjoy it, as it must not change!
Marcos Gouvêa de Souza he is the founder and general director of the GS & Gouvêa de Souza Group, member and co-founder of IDV - Institute for the Development of Retail and IFB - Instituto Foodservice Brasil. He is also president of LIDE Comércio and a member of the Ebeltoft Group, a global alliance of specialized retail consultants in more than 25 countries.
EN 
PT 
