Hi girls,
happy Saturday!
So Black Friday was yesterday and Cyber Weekend is this weekend (happy Thanksgiving to any readers across the pond!). Our emails, Instagram and what feels like our entire world is absolutely inundated with offers right now and a lot of them are super tempting with a lot of fantastic deals. But, I don’t want to burst your Black Friday bubble, personally I hate it (coming from someone in the fashion Industry). It is so damaging to sales and the selling period that a lot of businesses plan buy for, especially independent boutiques who can’t afford to markdown their stock and compete with the big boys.
The brand giant ‘dictator’ that is Amazon introduced Black Friday to the UK in 2010. Ever since then it has created this (in my opinion) toxic selling period. Where bascially brands and their customers hold out for BF sales only which is 5 days (sometimes not even that long) instead of the entire season which runs from September – December. Again damaging to small businesses as well (and big brands who a lot of them are struggling right now) who rely or need a more steady influx of sales and consumer spending. They can’t NOT have product hitting down on average each month because of the potential loss of sales, not to mention the lack of product on shop floors/websites. So therefore what ends up happening is businesses continue to have product arriving but can’t shed the stock quick enough (as their customers are waiting for BF) so businesses have to spend money (loosing profit) marking down their stock and thus begins a cycle of the consumer only buying product with a discount.
Let’s also not forget the year of 2013 when the British public actually fought each other over TVs and gadgets in ASDA! 😂
However, on the flip side, I completely understand that a lot of people rely on discounts in order to be able to afford Christmas gifts for example, this year more than ever. We’re not made of money so if we ARE going to participate in Black Friday and cyber weekend madness then at least we can support the small businesses who are taking part in it. Wouldn’t you rather spend your hard earned money with a small business who can then afford to put meals on their table and keep their business a float, you will make their day and probably their year!
So whether you’re shopping for gifts for yourself this cyber weekend (nothing wrong with that by the way) or gifts for other people, without further ado, please see below my top Black Friday highlights from small businesses only…
(Click on the picture to go through to the website)
The Mercantile
Camilla Elphick
25% off applied at the checkout.
Tikiboo
(where I get all my running leggings from!)
30% off all weekend with code BF30
The Modern Draper
Menswear boutique, Up to 60% off
Milly Grace Jewellery
30% off everything
Londonworks
July Child Jewellery
15% off orders under £200 with code: CYBER15
25% off orders over £200 with code: CYBER25
The Hambledon
25% off Men’s & Women’s clothing
The Hoop Station
Buy 1 get 20% off, buy 2 get 25% off etc – up to 40% off.
Georgie Cole
20% off everything and free shipping AND a free gift.
Some businesses have also decided to donate a % of their sales to charity as well as or instead of offering discounts, how amazing is that!…
Alzang
Up to 70% off everything until Monday and 10% of every sale goes to Smart Works Charity.
Lucy & Yak
10% of every sale made between Friday 27th to Tuesday 1st December will be donated to Fior Di Loto Foundation in India who provide schooling to over 700 girls who may not otherwise have access to education.
Oklahoma
10% of every sale will be donated to Manchester charity Young Lives.
House of Sunny
Up to 30% off with one tree planted per purchase through donating to @onetreeplanted the non-profit organisation that focuses on global reforestation.
Happy shopping!
Lots of love xxxx
It’s A Girl Thing 