Loud Black Friday Discounts... Price Hikes Before Events as a 'Trick'

Analysis of UK Price Comparison Sites Shows 24% Price Increase Across All Items in October
Some Cases More Expensive Than Before Promotions... Annual 'Deceptive Sales' Repeated, Consumers Advised to Be Cautious

A store in California, USA, offering Black Friday discounts last year. Photo by AP News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Ahead of the shopping season 'Black Friday (Black Friday·Beulpe)', which started in the United States and spread worldwide, it has been revealed that many foreign online shopping malls are using the deceptive tactic of raising prices in advance and then offering discounts.

According to the British Telegraph, the UK site 'PriceSpy', which compares product prices from 6,000 online shopping malls, analyzed that about 24% of all products sold last month had their prices increased. Among the items with raised prices, 12% saw price hikes of more than 10%. Black Friday refers to the Friday following Thanksgiving Day (the fourth Thursday of November every year), and the distribution industry uses this day to start massive discounts to clear inventory through the Christmas and New Year seasons.

The 'discounts that are not really discounts' trick by retailers is a recurring issue every year. The Telegraph reported that last year, between October 1 and November 21, 14% of products had their prices raised in advance and then lowered on Black Friday, November 26. Even more absurdly, 20% of products were sold at higher prices on Black Friday than before the event, and 17% were sold cheaper after the Black Friday event ended.

As these manipulations continue, 41% of respondents in a survey conducted by PriceSpy answered that they 'do not trust Black Friday discounts.' Lisa Martin-Bessi Bassett of PriceSpy warned, "Consumers may not receive the level of discounts they want on Black Friday or may even end up purchasing products at higher prices than usual."

Such deceptive discounts are no exception in Korea. The 'Korea Sale Festa,' known as the 'Korean version of Black Friday,' is held from the 1st to the 15th of this month. Every year, some companies loudly advertise dramatic sales events while secretly raising prices beforehand and then pretending to offer large discounts. Especially on open markets, discount coupons are excessively distributed to advertise that consumers can get big discounts, but in reality, there is often little difference from the usual prices. Even if unfair price adjustments are discovered, since pricing authority fundamentally belongs to the sellers, it is difficult to take measures beyond limiting screen exposure. Additionally, there are many consumer complaints that popular items are excluded from discounts except for some bait products, and discounts mainly apply to leftover stock.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.