This month we’re asking retailers: What do you think of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and will your business be doing any special promotions? 

Joseph Shenton – Joseph James Furniture Outlet LLP

As an Outlet, discount holidays are always tricky. Our prices are at a discount throughout the year, so further discounting them on BF/CM insinuates to customers that our prices aren’t as reduced as they could be, during the rest of the year. We try and do some kind of promotion to stay competitive, but it certainly isn’t as drastic as traditional retailers.

Nigel Lomas – Harvest Moon Interiors

Fine for selling perfume on amazon but no one goes out to buy a £3,000 sofa just because it’s Black Friday.

Grant Berry – Home World

I feel that especially since the lockdowns, Cyber Monday & Black Friday etc have lost their pull, especially for big ticket items. Things have evolved. I remember 20 years ago for instance Bank Holiday Mondays were a great day for sales, that’s just another day now. The web as created 365 days a year, 24 hours a day shops with very competitive deals on constantly. We will carry on business as usual, offering good deals that we offer all the time anyway.

George Sinclair – Nimbus Beds

We tend not to get too involved as we try to offer value all year round. However last minute deals may crop up here or there.

Huw Williams – Toons Home Furnishers

We started with black Friday six years ago and initially it did quite well, however as years passed sales became weaker every year to the point that last year, we decided we would no longer participate in it going forward. I think the public have become quite sceptical of black Friday due to the dishonest deals by retailers that newspapers have highlighted in their investigations.

Vic Smith – Vic Smith Beds We are definitely going to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and the offers will be the same – starting on the Friday going through to the Tuesday giving people the weekend to place their orders. We will maximise these few days to clear some shop models as people love the theatre of seeing their goods being bagged up and no one else can get the deal because they got there first! And of course, we will replace it straight away with a similar model and keep the theatre going.