Why We Aren't 'Doing' Black Friday

It started out as an American flash sale day, hitting the headlines with violent stories of customers fighting over bagging the last bargain. Sadly, over the last few years, Black Friday has made its way over ‘The Pond’ and reached the UK's shores.

The rise of businesses attempting to take part in Black Friday, which generally lines the pockets of larger retailers, has sparked some conversations about the impact it’s having on independent and smaller brands.

In the age of celebrating thoughtful consumerism, we are a business that, along with other smaller independents, are taking a stand and have this year chosen not to 'do' Black Friday, as painful as it may be.

Why? Because over the last 12 and a half years, our journey has been a real labour of love and we have put absolutely everything into our little business, committing and sacrificing so much to ensure that we could grow sustainably.

Like many of our hard-working friends, we believe in providing a wonderful and personal service, beautiful and quality products and honest pricing all year round and we are rewarded with the most loyal customers... YOU! 😊

We totally understand that sales are important, and, with budgets forever squeezed, Black Friday style sales are genuinely appreciated by so many, especially when it comes to white goods and tech. Unfortunately, we can't all offer the constant deals and discounts that the bigger boys do, and if customers are waiting until Black Friday to shop, then it's very hard for the smaller brands to keep up.

For us at Cocorose, we do love a good sale and our SALE page is available throughout the year, promoting some great offers, especially if we have just a few pairs of certain sizes left in stock. But we are very weary of slashing prices just for the sake of it, especially because we believe in honest pricing from the off-set. Afterall, when does the slashed price just become the new normal?

The reality is that Black Friday used to be one weekend of the year and over time, it's morphed into the whole of November. A whole month of sales is something most independent businesses can’t sustain.

Big box stores are able to buy in large volume which allows for their huge discounts. Small businesses simply can’t match this spend whilst still remaining profitable.

A loyal customer base may keep a business afloat but competing in an event which is entirely based on slashing prices is simply not an option for most independent and small businesses.

We have all seen the memes on social media but their intent is true. When you buy from a small business, you’re not buying another holiday home for a CEO; you’re buying dance lessons for children in a family; you’re helping to put food on someone’s table and contributing towards household bills. Your choice is essential to their livelihood. Taking a more caring approach when shopping can only have positive effects and it’s this message - the reason why we're not 'doing' Black Friday - that we’d like to get across.

So we have instead turned the day into a safety initiative – Blister Friday - to keep female party-goers safer, by creating safety tips and urging women to consider the problems they can encounter, if trying to return home in heels they have been wearing all evening.

For more info about Blister Friday, check out our previous posts!