Growing rage of Black Friday sale and why it has made desi shoppers bullish; All you need to know

Just when you thought that the festive season sale offerings have dried up after the Diwali sales, leading major e-commerce giants of the country have once again planned to pull you back.

With increasing penetration of American brands into Indian markets, sellers have understood the buying potential of Indian customers. (Image: AFP)

Black Friday sale: Just when you thought that the festive season sale offerings have dried up after the Diwali sales, leading major e-commerce giants of the country have once again planned to pull you back. We are talking about the mother of all festive season sales – Black Friday sale. Though this busiest shopping day has a connotation to the west (the US and Northern America), this international festive offering has become very much vogue in India, courtesy the growing influence of American trends on both customers and retailers of the country. Find it hard to believe? Take a look at this... These days customers have been flooded with Black Friday sale messages and notifications and many of them keep wondering what it is all about! Okay, for the ones who don’t know what Black Friday is all about – it marks the beginning of the Christmas holiday season in the United States and Northern America. Celebrated on first Friday after the Thanksgiving Day, offline retail stores here offer lucrative deals and discounts on electronics, appliances, fashion and other such segments. It is one of the busiest shopping days in the west. But many of us will now wonder as to why they are getting notifications for a festive offering happening in the US. Well, major e-commerce platforms including Amazon and Flipkart are jumping on-board to offer a US-like discount during Black Friday further integrate western shopping trends in the country. Now, the point which dribbles our thought is how customers sitting in India can cash upon these attractive overseas deals? Read on... With increasing penetration of American brands into Indian markets, sellers have understood the buying potential of Indian customers who prefer shopping online through Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm and also retailers including Honor and Sony, all of these are the once hosting Black Friday sale on November 23 in India. US-based online shopping giant Amazon India is offering up to 40 per cent discount during this period. Even domestic rivals of Amazon including Flipkart and Jabong are running similar discount offers during the Black Friday weekend. Tech companies such as Sony and Honor – popular among customers for smartphones and other electronic items – are also hosting Black Friday sale on their official websites, respectively. Even Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi is offering heavy discount on its newly launched Redmi Mi Note Pro 6 which was launched on November 21. Moving away from electronics, several cosmetic brands such as Body Shop, Nykaa and others have also rolled out lucrative deals during this period. Interestingly online fashion retailer Jabong has not labelled its recent promotional offer as Black Friday sale, but it is offering as much as 80 per cent of discount on various products between 22 to 23 November. Surely, it’s not a coincidence! Myntra is too running a similar promotion called ‘Fashion Upgrade’. However, the online retailer is open enough to offer Black Friday related coupons on various products while the customers are checking out. And if you think, its only online retailers who want to tap into the opportunity, then you have got it all wrong. Even leading brick and mortar stores of India such as H&M, Aldo, Sephora, Charles and Keith and Anita Dongre are offering up to 50 per cent discount during this period. Nevertheless, it will be no exaggeration to say that even kirana stores and local garment shops are too giving away some lucrative deals and discounts in the name of Black Friday.