Thailand
Cambodia: Black Friday ‘a welcome boost to businesses’
The retail sector is expected to see a spike in sales this weekend as many of the Kingdom’s businesses jump on the Black Friday bandwagon, offering savings of up to 70 percent on a wide range of products.
Black Friday, a promotion that started in the US in the 1950s, has gained popularity in the Kingdom over recent years.
It is the informal name for the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. The day after Thanksgiving is widely regarded as the beginning of the US Christmas shopping season.
Huge discounts on a variety of products including electronics, beauty products and fashion will have consumers flocking to grab a deal and not have to fork out all of their hard-earned cash – unless fears of COVID-19 keeps them away or they buy online.
Many businesses, ranging from small market stalls right up to globally known brands such as Adidas and Starbucks, will be touting promotions sure to attract customers like moths to a flame.
Lai Kanha, manager of Zando, a clothing retailer in Phnom Penh, explained that it is good for Cambodia to follow trends from the West and businesses should make full use of the US tradition.
“Businesses in Cambodia over the last few years have started to run promotions for Black Friday, [utilising the] event [the same way it is done in] countries such as the US. It is an event that guarantees us being extremely busy throughout the weekend. It is [an effective] way of bringing in revenue and is available for all businesses to take advantage of, no matter what size,” Lai said.
It is not only brick-and-mortar stores taking advantage of the Black Friday weekend. A lot of businesses have expanded their bag of tricks by offering online sales available only through their websites or apps, luring shoppers prone to staying on the couch to buy things while still in their pajamas.
Christopher Carney, managing director of delivery app Appout, said: “[As] a food delivery app, we see a lot of restaurants who use Black Friday as an opportunity to put on a sale and bring in more business. It is smart for restaurants to jump under the Black Friday umbrella and make the most of it. I do believe that any type of event that will bring in more revenue for either an online or offline business is always going to be good, especially during the current COVID-19 situation. I believe, however, that even before the pandemic, people have been edging towards buying things online. It is just the way things are going.”
The use of ecommerce is being heavily pushed at the moment in the Kingdom because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This week the Cambodian government officially launched a comprehensive ecommerce strategy in a bid to achieve and drive competitive growth in pursuit of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.
Although Black Friday is a growing trend in Cambodia, it is still nowhere near as popular as it is in the USA, where adults are expected to drop a total of $148.5 billion on Black Friday purchases this year according to Finder.com.