CYBER MONDAY, TO SATISFY THE HUNGER OF THE CONSUMERIST SOCIETY

Dear readers, today we are facing one of the phenomena that brings in the most revenue for e-commerce companies today. This is not something that has been happening for a long time, because its presence has been growing as time went by, technologies advanced and society became (and is becoming) more and more consumerist. 

 

As many of you already know, we are talking about Cyber Monday. Many of you may have thought that I was referring to Black Friday, but from my point of view this phenomenon does not act so much on e-commerce (which is also true), but rather on physical business. Like most of these phenomena, it was born in the United States in 2005. It is said that these offers came about because there were many families who did not have internet at home and could not travel, and that is why they took advantage of Monday to shop from work. I cannot confirm its veracity 100%, but it has all the logic in the world. Both companies and users benefit. Apart from that, there are a few other differences. That is why before starting with any article, we should know what Cyber Monday is and when it is celebrated. Well, this day is a date when consumers take advantage of numerous online discounts. This could be termed as a hangover from Black Friday, i.e. taking advantage of the deals after Black Friday.

 

That said, many people may start preparing their coats and shoes to get them ready and head to the shops that day, but the truth is that this day has some particularities with respect to what we are used to on Black Friday. The main difference with it is that the discounts you can enjoy are for online shopping, so you can do it from anywhere, as I was saying before. Before we continue, though, in case anyone is still not sure, Black Friday always takes place on the last Friday in November, it is not a specific number. Cyber Monday, therefore, is the Monday following this date. This has its advantages, but also its disadvantages, as on many occasions the discounted products are those that are 'left over' from Friday, so sometimes the variety is not very wide.

 

This, of course, has an exacerbated impact on companies. Last year, with the quarantine effect, the same products were marketed as in 2019, but the record figures of that year were not surpassed. With the restrictions eased, users' purchasing behaviour returned to pre-pandemic habits. Unlike what happened in 2020, when everyday consumer products and services took centre stage, with a lower average ticket, demand turned to the most sought-after categories before the pandemic. Travel, electronics and cosmetics & perfumery will be the stars of this edition according to several studies. The event recorded an average discount of 27%, which, together with the various financing options, meant an opportunity for users to make purchases in instalments. "The additional sales generated by the event gave a boost to the more than 1,000 participating companies, many of them SMEs, and to their entire value chain," said Gustavo Sambucetti, institutional director of CACE, El Cronista. In the case of the largest companies, it is estimated that they doubled the turnover of a standard day, while in the case of smaller brands it is estimated that in three days they will have sold what they sell in a month.

With this series of data provided, I believe that we can be fully aware of the impact that these phenomena have on companies and on users. It is also true that it is often said that companies use these dates to take advantage of users. Some people show that companies raise prices in the months leading up to these dates so that they can lower the price on the last Friday in November and make it look as if they are applying a great discount, when they are selling at their normal price. I do not claim that this is always the case or that all companies do this, but it is true that more than one example has been seen. That is why you have to be very careful, and even more so on Cyber Monday because, being online, there will be those who want to trick the most vulnerable with false offers or some kind of deception. 

 

Finally, as a personal reflection, I would like to talk about this phenomenon as a reflection of the consumerist society in which we live. It is clear that everyone is grateful for discounts, it would be absurd to say otherwise, who is going to want to pay more when they can pay less. The thing is that with these acts we only feed the consumerist character of our society. I am not saying that this is bad, what I mean is that we have to know how to moderate. This consumerism feeds consumption and the destruction of the planet. I mean, the more you buy and the more things you want, the more you have left over and the more you throw away. This means that you are collaborating in some way to accelerate climate change and to accumulate more waste. I know that this is a very generic point of view and that these things do not depend on one person, but they do depend on a society, and with these dates this is what we are feeding.