Black Friday is red hot day

PETALING JAYA: Less than two weeks after splurging on the 11.11 Singles’ Day sales, Malaysians had another reason to scour online for more deals and discounts – Black Friday sales.

The Black Friday shopping spree is a long-observed tradition in the United States, celebrated a day after the Thanksgiving holiday where retailers slash prices on items online and in store.

Many e-commerce sites, among them Lazada, 11street and Shopee, played on the ease of online shopping by offering up to 85% off selected items on their shopping platforms for Black Friday.

“In 2017, we saw a rise in gross merchandise value of up to 50% for Black Friday in comparison to a regular Friday.

“The highest performing product category for the day was electronics, followed closely by fashion, and health & beauty,” said 11street chief operating officer Jenny Tay.

“These days, we are seeing great traction with our customers, especially for purchases of mobile top-up vouchers and travel deals due to the upcoming year-end holiday season.

“We do foresee that the hype around Black Friday might not be as significant as 11.11.”

Student Ariesya Roslan, 21, got her hands on makeup, in particular a concealer usually priced at RM126 but marked down to RM89 on Black Friday.

PR manager Ethan Wong stocked up on his Calvin Klein underwear and protein shake.

Freelance writer KL Lee, 30, said he bought some games on Steam, PlayStation store and also a book from the Book Depository.

“Samsung also started its Blue Week sale on the same day as Black Friday, and I managed to get a Samsung Galaxy Note FE for RM1,446.90 which is about RM630 cheaper than its original price,” he said.

There were those who refrained from purchasing anything during the Black Friday sales after having hit their “shopping quota” during the 11.11 sales event.

“I will not be spending any money on Black Friday as I just bought a new smartphone during the 11.11 sales event,” said graphic designer Emily Yeoh, 27.

Writer Maria Fernandez said in jest “I only have RM50 left in my life” after splurging on makeup and clothing during the earlier sales.

For the 11.11 sales, Shopee recorded more than 11 million orders in just 24 hours, with over 42 million total visits. It claimed that, at one point, it sold over 58,000 items in just one minute.

Most of Lazada’s buyers on 11.11 were from Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Penang, and Perak who bought 27 tonnes of Milo in the first two hours and more than 4.5 million pieces of diapers.