It is not uncommon that holiday seasons have been greatly metamorphosed as shopping seasons at large. Birthing with great intentions, the word ‘shopping’ for some although seeming to be grim, for many it is a bliss; specifically when one gets what they dearly want at unrealistically low prices.
‘Sale, sale, sale! Early bird specials! One day only! Get the best deal! Act now! While supplies last. See store for details.’ For years, us humans have been fed with such boo-hockey and yet we participate in this insanity. But why?
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To further exploit our gullibility, in today’s fast paced world, merchants have come up with many ‘shopping holidays’ which have resulted in some sort of craze worldwide.
‘Black Friday, 12.12 and 11.11’. we have all heard of it and have at least once been a part of it. On these very days , we ravenously consume with no regards to the harm were inflicting on ourselves, specifically our wallets. With gluttonous greed, we truly live the meaning of buying as much as we can to fill our void with material possessions.
These infectious shopping events have sadly become a consumer culture, which we should not actually be proud of.
First, ask yourselves, have you actually been ‘full’ after the copious shopping? Or burning a deep hole in your wallets? Or did you feel duped falling prey to all these peppiness? More importantly, was it worth it?
Somehow a ‘global sensation’, Black Friday lands on the day after Thanksgiving but it is actually a shopping season that begins in November. In Amazon, online deals started in the midnight of November 29. Generally speaking, Black Friday sales would start days or even weeks before the actual date and continue till the entire December shopping season (Chen, 2020). On the other hand, shopping days like 11.11 and 12.12 are the biggest online shopping event that appeared quite recently. The day 11.11 was chosen to represent Single’s day where Alibaba and Jack Ma, it’s founder rebranded the day from anti Valentine to a global shopping day for all single people out there (Rajeck, 2019). Double 12 was also started in China where it aims to promote sales in small and medium sized enterprise which had been left out by the Single’s Day being largely dominated by big brands (King, 2015). All these events had boost sales up to millions. Statistics have shown in 2016, Alibaba made a rocket sales of $17.8billion in Single’s day alone (Kaur, 2018). Now, putting out thinking caps on, let’s ponder together, are these so called ‘events’ really worth it?
Did you know, ‘a few years ago, a Wal-Mart worker was killed in a stampede on the treacherous day after Thanksgiving. As the management prepared to open the store doors at 5 a.m., the employee was pushed to the ground and then trampled to death as shoppers surged through the entrance to get to the deals’? (10 Reasons Black Friday Is Awful and Needs to Go Away | Business Insurance Quotes: Compare Providers for Free, 2020). In short, it can be a dangerous phenomenon be in online or in-store. As these record-breaking shopping events come to a closing, there is a severe aftermath due to the intense shopping demand and shipping demand. Workers are expected to struggle and deal with large numbers of parcels and they are forced to pull an all-nighter in order to keep up with the orders placed (Popov, 2019). Logistic bases would become crowded and be flooded with parcels and this might pose a working hazard for the workers (McDowell, 2019). In addition, there is a chance of the parcels being damaged. Although many people would go for online shopping, thousands of people would still brave the crowd. Traffic jams, accidents such as stampedes, fist fights and car accidents are only few of the drawbacks imposed by such spree, not to mention an aggressive attitudes trampling for things they do not need. Deaths and injuries have actually occurred where statistics have shown that in 44 separate Black Friday sales, it has resulted in 11 deaths and 108 injuries (Crockett, 2019). The most famous Black Friday injuries are stampede-related deaths where a Walmart employee in New York has been overrun by 2000 shoppers who had streamed over his body as he lay on the concrete floor (Libo, 2019). Therefore, these prove that such shopping events are actually very dangerous.
On top of that, Black Friday, 11.11, and 12.12 kind of defeats the purpose of trying to save money as people wind up making loads of impulsive buys all merely because the prices of items appear to be cheaper, or is it? To elaborate, let’s take Black Friday sales as an example. Some shops purposely ensure that they increase prices higher before Black Friday to be able to announce to consumers that they are having a larger discount for Black Friday sales. Analysts have detected that prices appears to be higher in the weeks before Black Friday (Netivist, 2016). As such, the problem here is that you do not really know whether the deals are genuinely worthwhile or otherwise. In short,‘gimmick’s’ the word. Organized shoppers would know exactly what they want and as such prioritize their purchase. However, most individuals would be easily enticed by the deals they stumble upon and as such find it too tempting to be passed up. Despite being on sale, excessive impulsive buying could really add up and hence failing the primary objective of saving. To quote the words of Admiral Ackbar of Star Wars, ‘it’s a trap!’
On another note, according to S Birruntha (2019), ‘Malaysia’s top three e-commerce players, Lazada, Shopee, and Taobao experienced strong traffic growth within the first hour of one-day online shopping craze, the 12.12 sale’. In spite many perceiving it to be a mode of treachery to entice innocent buyers into buying more that what they actually need, are shopping events, such as the Black Friday, 11.11 and 12.12 sales really not worth it? Such shopping events provide the masses with a platform to purchase items of their desire at discounted prices, instead of paying for them at retail. While shopping at discounted prices to your hearts’ desire may seem appealing, such shopping events are only truly worth it if one purchases what they actually need. From a suppliers perspective, such shopping events is a mean to clear inventory, specifically products in need of near replacements, hence, making room for new models and products. Besides that, such madness also assists new, small and upcoming businesses to further develop and grow, contributing to a sustainable market share and strengthening their market appearance. Further supporting this statement, ‘Alibaba's 11.11 Singles Day sales” (2019) contends that ‘homegrown small and medium enterprises across the region registered strong performance, including Ellips, the first Indonesian brand to participate in this year's Tmall 11.11 Shopping Festival under the Lazada-Tmall Global Partnership.’
However, it is true that Black Friday, 11.11 and 12.12 sales will always be the most exciting days for many as they have anticipated that they will be able to get things way cheaper than normal days. While that may be one of benefits, it can result several concerning issues. Firstly, as previously highlighted, it will may potentially pose to be a threat towards the safety of all the parties involved namely, the customers and workers. For the customers, they would have to sacrifice their sleep and wait there outside of the store overnight to get all the limited items and doing so would put their health at risk as they do not have sufficient and quality rest. On the other hand, it may effect one’s emotion specifically when they do not get their heart’s desire, hence making one susceptible to shopping rage. Besides, we are all too familiar with such events resulting in over crowded stores and long ques which may be the recipe to turn even the calmest of the lot into irrational manics
The above can be further proven by an accident that had happened on Nov 28, 2008 at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. At 3:30 a.m where the worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34 was trampled to death (Robert, 2008). According to the news report, ‘the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him. Others who had stood alongside Mr. Damour trying to hold the doors were also hurled back and run over. This had clearly shown how dangerous it might goes to.
“Happiness is not in money, but in shopping” - Marilyn Monroe
All in all, shopping during sales is not worth the cause. Shopping during Black Friday, 11.11, 12.12 sales is a nightmare we should not buy tickets to. It depends on how people define sales according to their perspective and point of view. For some, these sales days may be a day of fright, while for others being a day of cheer. These are days that return every year packaged in a new light than normal sales, offering consumers a plethora of offers and deals too sweet to be declined. Although thousands of advantages and disadvantages can be concluded from this topic, we stand by our opinion that , shopping during Black Friday, 11.11, 12.12 and Year-End Sale is not worth it as many people think. So are you on a budget, willing to make your way out of this craze alive?
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