Black Friday is originally an American phenomenon, where shops offer high discounts on the Friday after Thanksgiving. "It is an excellent example of our somewhat curious willingness to take over everything that comes from the United States," says historian Wilbert Schreurs. “Everyone knows Thanksgiving from American films and series, but of course it has nothing to do with our Dutch culture. Yet Black Friday has also become a success here.”
Online shopping sector
The fact that Black Friday has gained a foothold in the Netherlands has a lot to do with the rise of online shopping. “That sector got off to a flying start with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. Starting from that moment, the systems meet the preconditions: everything runs smoothly and quickly enough to shop comfortably from your smartphone or laptop,” explains Schreurs. “The online sector at the time consisted mainly of wild guys. Those were pioneers. There was a strong urge to prove themselves against the opponent, the 'normal' shops.' Black Friday was therefore an excellent opportunity to put the sector on the map together.
Thanks to successful campaigns, online companies were able to convince consumers to take advantage of Black Friday. ‘Online stores, with Bol.com and CoolBlue as pioneers, have really embraced the phenomenon and marketed it here. Later, the regular shops also joined in. It's really just an advertising effect," says Schreurs, who specialises in advertising history. “After a few years of repetition, the message got across, so many bargain-conscious people now know that they should go to these companies on Black Friday.”
Globalisation
In addition to Black Friday, the Chinese Singles Day is also increasingly being marketed, thanks to advertising strategies from the Chinese company AliBaba, among others. ‘We used to have sales peaks around Sinterklaas and Christmas, holidays that are anchored in Dutch culture. Days like this are now coming. The willingness to adopt phenomena and days from other cultures in the Netherlands, without any historical context, seems greater than ever,' the historian notes. “In that respect, you also see globalization. Our consumer behavior has become international, it has become much less local.”
Consumer holidays are not celebrated by every company. Chains such as Dille and Kamille are actively campaigning against Black Friday and the consumption behavior that is stimulated on that day. “But that chain [Dille and Kamille] doesn't have much to do with Black Friday anyway: it is rather companies like MediaMarkt where such discounts are interesting. You would have to delve deeper into it to determine whether such counter-actions by companies are sincere, or whether it is a form of greenwashing', says Schreurs. In any case, the call to reduce consumption is not a new phenomenon. 'Throughout history we see waves of criticism of the consumer society. You can see that that criticism faded in the eighties and nineties and has come back in recent years.'
Wilbert Schreurs is a historian specialised in advertising and industry history. He is working on a dissertation on the criticism of advertising in the Netherlands between 1955-1979: read more.
Photo: Gerard Stolk via Flickr