The countdown has begun, Black Friday is here in a month

Black Friday (better known as Black Friday in English) is the name of the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States, which has traditionally been the beginning of the Christmas shopping season there for several decades. The term was coined in 1966, its use spread to 2009, and from the mid-2010s it spread to Hungary as well, and is used for marketing purposes in the run-up to Christmas by an increasingly wide range of domestic traders and for an increasingly long period of time.

According to the experience of the Economic Competition Authority (GVH), during Black Friday, retailers use a number of tricks to take advantage of the shopping fever that flares up among consumers. In many cases, significant discounts of “up to 80-90%” are advertised, which apply to only a few or often unavailable products. Sometimes sales are advertised as “bait”, directly for products with low stock. In addition, online stores often use urgent messages, referring to the popularity of the products, thereby exerting psychological pressure on customers.

Considerable savings can be achieved by careful and considered shopping, but consumers only win with promotions if they are conducted within a fair framework. As in previous years, GVH is launching an information campaign this year as the Black Friday period approaches. As part of this, with a new series of videos available on social and video-sharing sites, it helps Hungarian consumers to avoid legal violations and consequent disappointment during seasonal promotions, and to ensure that their purchases are the result of a conscious – preferably environmentally sustainable – decision.