Consumers go crazy for Black Friday

Black Friday was an astounding success for the UK's retailers, which surpassed most sales expectations.

Online store Amazon recorded orders for more than 5.5 million goods, while London’s Oxford Street said sales for the three-day weekend are expected to be up to 15 percent up on the same period last year.

Black Friday originated in America but is a global retail extravaganza

This relatively new pre Christmas discounting event is an American import and certainly didn't bring out the Britishness in those eager to bag a bargain. In Brazil it is nicknames Black Fraude-day after consumers complained of price deception and false discounting.

The broadsheets and news channels were quick to report the barbaric tactics shoppers took to get hold of the limited stock on the shelves. People fighting over jumpers and coats, which were discounted at 20 percent, or worse, shoppers stealing from other shopper's trollies, hoping it would deter them from fighting back. Other reactions involved arrests, fights, biting, pinching, kicking, punching, being knocked to the ground, scrums of people pushing through doors, people climbing over displays, attacks on staff and people refusing to leave shops when prized stock ran out.

So why the emotional and greedy reactions to a relatively small discount? The Boxing Day sales are by far a better deal when it comes to off-priced goods.

The Telegraph reported that by turning shopping into a ritual, the public is deluded into thinking that promotional pushes such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday – the first Monday in December has become the busiest day of the year for internet shopping – as “sensible” days to buy, when deals abound and they will somehow “beat the system."

This is despite the fact that such bargains are rarely what they seem. On Friday, many complained to Which?, the consumer group, that websites had dropped the price of some goods, only to increase the price of others. Many shops stockpile old goods, or items bought in specifically for Black Friday, to create the impression of virtually giving away items, when in fact they’re still turning a healthy profit.