We're coming up to that time of year where everybody will be talking about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It's something I don't take part in so I thought I'd take some time out to explain to you why.
Mindless Consumption
Some deals encourage us to overconsume, buying things that perhaps we wouldn't have done if they hadn't been on special offer. We maybe even end up overspending and getting ourselves into debt for it. And we've all seen footage of queues and fights outside stores for limited deals.
Waste
A lot of the Black Friday offers are electrical goods and only 20% of the electronic waste caused by Black Friday is recycled. Add to that up to 80% of items and plastic packaging generated by Black Friday end up in landfill or being poorly recycled having a negative effect on the environment.
Excess shipping and returns
With more and more people turning to online shopping we are seeing increased volumes of items being delivered, either from overseas or even within the country by local couriers and Royal Mail. This puts a strain on our already overburdened logistics network and also strain on people who are expected to deliver the extra volume of items in the same time period.
Not always the best deals
Often if you look around and look at pricing other times of the year you can get the same items cheaper. It tends to be only the bigger companies that can afford to take part. They can do lots of marketing and have staff to do extra shifts or work extra hard to meet the short-term increased demand.
If I reduced my products any lower than they already are, I would end up paying myself less than minimum wage. I like most small businesses operate on a very small margin. So there really is very little room for us to make big discounts on products.
The small business view
What you will find we do instead is add value. So rather than just reducing the price you may find throughout the year you are offered things like guides to help you get the most out of the projects that you're buying.
I'd love to hear your views on Black Friday. Whether you're for or against it, do pop them in the comments and let me know below. To keep up to date with all things NKN click below for your free copy of my guide to cleansing and charging your crystals and to receive regular updates from me.
I feel the same, in fact I was thinking about it only this morning and how much I dislike it. This is why I don’t buy Christmas presents, not only because I don’t really celebrate it but I hate excessive consumerism and waste!
As another small business owner, I would rather sell my services to people who genuinely want them. I will do the odd discount, don’t get me wrong, but not a ‘Black Friday deal’. Just when I feel like it because I want to ensure my clients don’t miss out. I’d rather create a discount code when I know there is a financial strain on people, so they can still work with me. That’s far more motivating than putting stuff on offer ‘just because it’s Black Friday’ 💕
Yes! Meaningful discounts or adding value in other ways, glad it resonated with you