Editorial: Black Friday South Africa

Published November 24, 2016

The views contained in this article are that of the author and should not be taken as the opinion of Geek Node as a publication.

It’s that time of the year and Black Friday is almost upon us. For those of you who don’t know Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving in the US and since 1932 it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

Black Friday made its introduction in 2014 for South Africa and while it has grown in popularity its nowhere close to the scale that we see in the US and Europe. This year looks to be the biggest one yet on our shores as many vendors have even started to offer early discounts. And according to social media there was an increase of mentions of Black Friday by more than 300% locally.

Black Friday crowds can be overwhelming.

The good news is that it’s not only about high tech gadgets and appliances, but mostly anything you can think about can be found at a reduced price. The best news is that games can also expect lots of specials from games, consoles, peripherals and even PC components. The bad news is that it will also be extremely crowded, many people also choose to sleep outside shopping centers to be the first in line.

Some people take extreme measures to be first in line.

There is however one downside and that’s the weak Rand will most probably result in prices not going too low. Another important variable we have here is the taxing of imported goods, and for that reason we can never directly compare prices from the US with local prices. A good example is the PS4 Pro deals that show them going for $369.99 directly converted at current rates that’s a ridiculously low R5257.56. But we will never get that lucky here, as I suspect that even with a day like Black Friday we will not see a PS4 Pro sell for less than R6399.99 locally.

I just couldn’t resist myself.

In my opinion Black Friday does offer some decent discounts that would allow people, who normally won’t buy a piece of hardware or a game for instance the opportunity to do so. But I can’t help myself thinking that the prices can be so much better. Unfortunately the reason behind this is the current state of the Rand against other world currencies and until our monetary system improves, Black Friday will still disappoint a lot of people. We can only hope that there is a turnaround in the near future.

Of course this does not mean that you must ignore it, go out and have a look online you never know what you might find. I will be keeping an eye on some of the items I am interested in just in case they do drop in price. So remember guys this Friday the 25 th is Black Friday, and for those who prefer to shop online there is Cyber Monday on the 28 th . Now Cyber Monday is basically the online shopping only version of Black Friday so there is no need to leave your home to get great deals.

Some tips to remember are:

Plan your shopping trip

Don’t freak out when you see lots of people

Keep a close eye on your personal belongings

Don’t forget to check online prices

Bring a shopping buddy that can keep up with your pace

Enjoy Black Friday everyone !

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Gatsusama

Gaming Author at Geek Node

I'm 35 obsessed with anything gaming and technology related. Staying in a quiet town does have its drawbacks as we don't have the fastest internet, but that wont stop me from enjoying my passion for gaming. Just a quick shout out to my lovely wife who supports my dreams and my friends and all the crazy moments we have encountered in games.