Retail trade Black Friday gets off to a slow start in stationary retail

Black Friday has established itself as one of the biggest shopping events in Switzerland in recent years. On Friday, however, business was rather slow, especially in the stores.

A visit to Zurich city center by the editorial team of AWP Financial News revealed that there has not yet been a major shopping frenzy on Black Friday. Although Bahnhofstrasse was already bustling with shoppers at lunchtime, as is usual in the run-up to Christmas, there were not yet many shopping bags to be seen.

The clothing and shoe stores in particular were rather empty. There were only a few customers there, although almost all stores were advertising Black Friday offers and discounts. The department stores and Europaallee were quite busy, but there were still no queues at the checkouts. Most visitors just seemed to be on the lookout for offers without making a direct purchase.

Only the Apple store on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse was very busy. However, Apple was not explicitly advertising Black Friday, but was only running a voucher promotion over the weekend. There are no special Black Friday offers there, as an employee said when asked.

Shoppi Tivoli in Spreitenbach, on the other hand, is expecting an increased number of visitors this Friday, which will be roughly on a par with a normal Saturday, according to an inquiry. Other major retailers and shopping centers did not want to comment on the start of Black Friday.

Meanwhile, it is still too early for a definitive assessment. Discount campaigns often continue over the weekend, which is why the Shoppi is expecting significantly more visitors on Saturday. In addition, online retailers traditionally entice shoppers with special offers on Cyber Monday, which is why many customers are shifting their shopping online.

SDA