TGIBF, thank god it's Black Friday here
America, marking the beginning of Christmas shopping. Like Halloween and Thanksgiving, it's catching on in India, providing producers and retailers another calendar event to move the needle in lifestyle consumption. While nowhere close to Diwali sales, the bargain hunt phenom helps global brands to speed up premiumisation.
BF allows retailers to stock up more for the season with an end-of-season promise. And not being a bricks-and-clicks play yet, it allows ecommerce to up its game. These tailwinds are making BF a fixture in the Indian marketing landscape.
Pitched at GenZ and millennials, brands reckon Indian consumers have a lot of catching up to do. BF sales in India are nowhere near being the definitive marker for consumer sentiment that they are in the US.
There is, however, a sense of fatigue creeping into BF sales where they are a national pastime. Brands are trying to salvage their image and revenue from deep discounting that bunches up sales.
Some brands are cutting through the noise in favour of sustainability and mindful consumerism. Marketing costs around BF are increasing, making full-funnel strategies more attractive. Competition has elongated the original single-day event to over a month, reducing the buzz around the deals.
Revenue is still spiking, but BF sales have to recreate the frenzy in newer markets such as India so as not to lose their momentum eventually.
New discount marketing channels are posing a threat to big-event strategies. Influencers have converted TikTok into a continuous BF. Lines are blurring between social media and ecommerce platforms as brands seek personalised communication with buyers.
