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IRISH RETAILERS ARE taking part in a new annual shopping trend to fight back against the recent introduction of Black Friday sales.
Today, shop-owners across the country are promoting #GreenFriday to encourage consumers to buy products from local, independent businesses.
The hashtag began gaining momentum online to encourage consumers to be more conscious of how they shop, while some have also used the hashtag to encourage people to take part in non-shopping activities.
The trend is part of a backlash against the unofficial American shopping holiday ‘Black Friday’, which takes place annually the day after Thanksgiving.
Professor Mary Lambkin of UCD’s School of Business points to how retailers who give discounts cut into their profit margins when they may prefer to sell at normal rates.
“In order to deliver on that obviously it has some headaches, for example if you get a big spike in sales, as you may have around these days, you have got to have stock to meet that,” she told Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1.
Lambkin also suggested that Black Friday promotions may also see retailers eating into their sales later in the year.
“I haven’t seen any real research that can prove to me that there is actually a net increment in sales for retailers,” she added.
Meanwhile, Labour’s Jan O’Sullivan also encouraged shoppers to buy locally both this weekend and in the run-up to Christmas.
“Local stores add to the character and the economy of towns and cities,” the Limerick TD said.
“Buying local also helps smaller businesses ensure good wages for local employees while supporting local entrepreneurs who are taking a greater risk than major corporations in setting up businesses.
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If you’re in the US and are going Black Friday shopping, please try to behave like a decent human being and turn your phone to landscape when recording the fights. Thanks.
@Kem Trayle: “It looks like you’re a filming a video that may go viral, would you like to switch to landscape”. We are long overdue that feature!
Comment of the day goes to @Kem Trayle:
No thanks, local is too expensive.
@Scorpionvenomm: and yet you’d be the first to píss and moan about the local employee wages and the loss of independent traders
@Scorpionvenomm: don’t complain when there’s no employment locally so!
@Scorpionvenomm: The first to be out complaining when the post office closes.
@Justin Gillespie: What are you talking about? It’s cheaper online I work hard for my money and pay a lot of tax as well. So i buy online.
@Scorpionvenomm: that’s fair enough but small towns will be wastelands in 5 years if everybody thinks like that. ….,, it’s your choice
@Scorpionvenomm: Why don’t you move to where the shopping is cheaper locally? You won’t be missed here
Irish retailers pay commercial rates, water rates , income and CPT that fund public services .
On line sellers contribute noting to the Irish economy
Its time there was a tax on online sellers to leavel the field
@Nicholas Lynch: well said and what a horrible name “black Friday” especially coming up to Christmas. How did it become a phenomenon, it just shows what suckers we are for all things American especially American brands and tech gobbledygook.
@Nicholas Lynch: There is a tax…
@john bennett: i heard the name Black Friday is because its the time when retailers go from being in red to balancing the books and making profits… I heard.
@Dan: Please elaborate ?
Apart from vat to end user online sellers avoid all the taxes local on street business are subject to
@Nicholas Lynch: but they dont use the same facilities that an on street business would use,
@Nicholas Lynch: as an online retailer I contribute to local jobs, pay taxes, donate to local causes. For BFCM I am donating to charity instead of crazy discounts… don’t tar all online businesses with the same brush. Supporting small local online businesses is just as important as supporting physical retailers
@Conor Smith: this is exactly right. It is the day, after 11.75 months, that retailers start to make a profit for the year. Amazing when you think that most of a company’s sales are in the last 5 weeks of the year
@Coco86: Coco .Ill just pick rates to keep it simple . Do you think a currier delivering your on line Amazon purchase does not use the infrastructure of the state to make the delivery . That’s the infrastructure thats paid for with rates ?
@Patricia Ryan: Patricia but you avoid rates yet benefit from the infrastructure that rates are designed to pay for. Id accept your point if commercial rates were scraped .
@Nicholas Lynch: Well I’m not sure what a currier is, but I’m sure a courier pays their road and income tax, DOE, diesel and other associated business charges. You mentioned retailers specifically in your previous post- perhaps the argument is too simple for you?
@Coco86: coco I pay 7 k to my local council for an off street location no lighting no street cleaning. So I’m not sure what the services are private site
@Nicholas Lynch: nice point
@Nicholas Lynch: Maybe Councils need to reduce their tax take if retail is in a slump – and shops need to reevaluate how they sell – its not ok to sell many years out of date electronics at this years prices (like Maplin did – and look what happened to them).
@Nicholas Lynch: I totally agree, the EU is looking at a turnover tax for online companies, most of the large multinationals register their intellectual property in another jurisdiction and move their monies to reduce tax liability , taxing the turnover before it can be moved makes more sense , it’s not a level playing field if a brick and mortar store has to pay business rates , taxes, rents, staff etc .
@Conor Thorne: Conor be careful with spell check or coco will get confused again
Coco86. Do you know what rates are and other local taxes are . Maybe you missed that year in school
Just another way of extracting money from you.
@Peter Coen: they can’t extract money from you unless you’re willing to have it extracted.
@Of a break. Of a Kitkat.: It’s the FOMO effect, people are afraid to miss the ‘bargains’ and retailers are great at using this to whip them into a frenzy to extract the cash.
They might see their customers again yet – Brexit could have us paying Vat and Duty on Amazon etc prices that will force us rethink the currently much more expensive local places.
@Anthony Clark: My dog has developed a limp. We’ll blame that on Brexit as well, shall we?
@Michael Lynch: no but if you think trade import from the UK won’t be directly affected by Brexit then you need get the off the journal and back to school with you.
@Anthony Clark: We already pay local VAT on online purchases from the UK. Go to Amazon and notice how the price changes when you change your delivery address to Ireland. There may be some smaller retailers not doing that, but legally they should. Brexit also shouldn’t make that massive a difference to Amazon as you can shop in English on amazon.de.
@Anthony Clark: Doubt it. They will redirect us to another European country.
@Anthony Clark: Thankfully there’s an Amazon in France and Germany as well which deliver to Ireland so the adjustment will be easy if that happened to UK trade.
@darren: I remember buying a Harddrive from UK in the late 80′s/early 90′s (first purchase from abroad – from a magazine advert as it was before internet etc. ) – and I was caught by customs – had to pay duty and customs related charges that wasn’t insignificant by any means.
If they leave the customs union – buying online from uk is going to get trickier and and likely more expensive.
a bathroom 2D bulb at work blew today. My choices were to go to Argos at lunchtime or run up to the main street to a local electrical shop . As the bathroom was in darkness I had to replace it immediately so went to the local electrical retailer. The bulb there cost €17.95!!!! In Argos it was €13.95 – and online it was under €10! I am raging but at least it wasn’t out of my pocket. Go figure why people shop online !!
I don’t think they’d be complaining about relentless consumerism if it was heading in their direction. The reality is that it’s an expensive time of year and most people want to get the most for their money.
Even today I was looking for a 128gb micro SD Card with the cheapest I could find was in Currys where it was selling for €64.99. On Amazon the exact same card is €17. If large retailers are so far off the price of online sellers then goodness only knows what a small, local electronics store might be selling it for. Supporting local is a nice idea but are the local stores really doing their very best for the customer? I see a lot of small business owners blaming the customer and external factors for poor sales but very rarely looking to themselves and what they’re offering.
@Rochelle: that’s all fine don’t go looking to have a coffee on your local town cause it won’t be there. Your example may be correct but it’s extreme
Its far cheaper to Buy online using sites like Idealo.de I feel sorry for the shops that cant compete due to the High cost of Taxs Rents Rates Insurance Utilities Etc in Ireland
@yildun: People are being pushed to the pin of their collective collars, over the past 10 – 15 years we’ve seen an overall reduction in the average wage, while at the same time an enormous leap in outgoings. Costs of such things as house prices and rent, assuming you can find a house, have skyrocketed, fuel in all forms has increased, food has increased. There hasn’t been anything that hasn’t increased enormously in price during this time, yet wages haven’t kept pace, any increases, have been a paltry couple of % here and there. We’re always quoted statistics that just don’t match up with what we see in our take home pay packets and, ultimately what’s left in our pockets. The net result, over time, for most people has been a loss.
I can understand the logic and justification of spending as locally as possible, to keep as much money as possible within the country, it’s a sad day to see businesses fail. Having said that when you’re on a tight budget, have a limited amount to spend, you have to get as much out of that as you can, that means shopping online. That’s your obligation to your family. If it means buying from Amazon or eBay, from the UK or Hong Kong that’s what you have to do, your concern is within your four walls. When a family’s finances fail it goes beyond being a sad day, it’s the end of their world, and it’s their duty to ensure that doesn’t happen.
If the government are advocating that people in this position put their family’s welfare behind that of businesses there’s something seriously wrong and twisted in that message.
Postage in Ireland is a huge issue for buying online in Ireland. Would much rather shop Irish for several reasons but postage can be €20 or more on some items, putting them out of reach. Will always check if available in Ireland, happy to pay a few more euro, more comfort buying local as well knowing if any issues, easier to deal with
@fintolini: Postage is free on Amazon and many places if your spend is over a certain amount, usually €20 or €25. The key is to plan ahead and group orders together to reduce or avoid the postage cost.
@Rochelle: Sign up for Amazon Prime and get free delivery on everything. First month free, so just cancel after you’ve made all your purchases.
@fintolini: Parcel motel is €4:50 and they give you a UK (NI) address to deliver to so you don’t have to pay the high Irish postage costs.
I’m on a minimum wage, I’ll shop anyway I like as long as it saves me money thank you very much.
Was recently in an Irish car show room and they were selling a fleet of French cars important from the UK .miles not Klm and were selling them as one previous owner. Yeah partly true .previously owned by the UK biggest car rental company. What’s good for the goose…..
I will pay a 10% ‘convenience/morality/green/support’ surcharge and shop at an Irish retailer out of principle if I can get what I want there for no more than 10% more than amazon or one of the big UK chains. Any more than that and sorry lads, get with the times.
A bit late marketing it today
Saved money this Black Friday didn’t go near a shop or online retailer all day.
Might drop a few quid this evening
Green rip off more like
Last night at a local restaurant I bought a jar of home-made chutney and a jar of jam. I’ll give these as little gifts to friends and relatives over the Christmas and New Year holiday.
That’s all good and fine if you can find the things you need locally, if you live in a smaller town they may not have certain things for your needs, i purchase nearly everything online from around the world. A few months ago my local dunnes stores stopped selling Harissa and i’ve had to buy it online from Germany and Dublin so i think this Green Friday will be a ‘red’ friday lol
Theyve stolen our idea. Spailpín.com has substituted a Green Weekend for 3 years now
If this is a major concern then let the local shops and businesses proof that Green Friday is better on Black Fridays by offering a better deal. I’m sure consumers need no persuasion like this to know where to go especially when the slashest price is a strong factor.
Just maybe then it could become a norm here to say Green Friday.
Don’t ask for green if black is way out of your league …. it’s just one day out of 365 days to make shopping a whole lot more pleasant for consumers but if that one Friday is now considered that important by the locals …. the local businesses should consider a major in the concept of responsibility and Value ads
Racist Irish Retailers….
Just like Guinness the greedy basterds you d get better bargains on Facebook market place
@liam ward60: you buy your pints from Facebook market place? Is it second hand?
What about blue Monday lol
Local retailers are often at the mercy of their suppliers in addition to other factors. My mum has a shop supplied by a number of British brands, obviously they have a lower vat rate in Britain then there’s the fluctuating exchange rate for Sterling v Euros and her customers can often but the products online from UK websites either directly from the brand or from UK stockists. It’s gotten to the point that when considering a new brand we have to check their online pricing as it compares to wholesale to see if her in-store price is going to even be vaguely competitive. Thankfully she’s in a sector where in store expertise is still key for customers, so despite online competition she can compete.
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