The long-awaited Black Friday sales campaign is back with major discounts for a wide range of products and services. We’ve made a list of ideas for your shopping list and a few tips for a happy and relaxing Black Friday.

The first Black Friday edition was held in Romania eight years ago, in 2011, and since then the campaign has become very popular among Romanians. Not only that the number of Black Friday shoppers has spiked in recent years in the country but the Romanians have also allocated more money for purchases in this period. And the latest estimates say that the trend will continue this year. Which is nothing else than good news for the retailers, as this translates into higher sales.

For example, eMag, the largest online retailer in Romania, which was the first to bring this international concept to the country, expects sales of about RON 500 million this year, up from RON 460 million generated last year by the same discount campaign. eMag organizes Black Friday on a single day – November 15, but other retailers decided to offer discounts for several days or even an entire month.

eMag has about 3.5 million products on sale on November 15, with total discounts of RON 270 million offered by the retailer and the 8,000 sellers on its marketplace platform. Of course, the Black Friday catalog includes the traditional smartphones, tablets, laptops, TV sets, and washing machines but there are also other things shoppers can buy on this day, including a Ferrari GTC 4 Lusso reduced by EUR 45,000 (from EUR 308,000 to EUR 263,000). Tickets to various events, medical subscriptions or vacations will also be on sale on November 15.

Meanwhile, similar to previous years, other big major online retailers in Romania have opted for much longer Black Friday campaigns. One of them is Altex, the leader of the Romanian electro-IT market, which kicked off the sales event on November 1 and will offer discounts until December 4. However, its main competitor Flanco was the first to start the Black Friday campaign this year in Romania, on October 23. They promise discounts of up to 80% for IT&C and gaming products, household appliances, home & garden products, and other categories. Other online retailers with similar catalogs are Germanos, Cel.ro, Media Galaxy, and QuickMobile.ro.

For those who want to change their wardrobe, the retailers and brands have prepared big discounts for clothing items, footwear, and accessories, both online and offline. Among online retailers, the most popular are Fashiondays.ro, Answear.ro, Aboutyou.ro, Mycloset.ro, Depurtat.ro and Epantofi.ro, but the local shoppers’ list of favorites also includes Hervis, Miniprix, Decathlon or Deichmann. A trip to the shopping mall in this period may reveal other stores with major discounts as well.

But there’s almost no limit to what you can buy on Black Friday. For example, Autovit.ro has already launched its Black Friday campaign on November 13 and, until November 15, offers discounts of up to 40% for cars. The most expensive are two Mercedes-Benz S AMG models. Autoeco.ro also prepared discounts for auto parts and accessories. If you want to change the furniture or buy something new for the house, Bonami.ro, Vivre.ro, Kika, Ikea, Dedeman, Hornbach or MatHaus could sell just what you’re looking for, at significant discounts.

Planning a vacation in this period may also be a good idea, as most tour operators or airlines cut the price of packages or plane tickets for Black Friday. For example, Tarom has announced a special offer for tickets sold until November 17, and eMag sells cheaper Blue Air vouchers. Booking platform MyPal.travel also prepared discounts of up to 45% for the period November 15-24. Plus, most tour operators are present at the Tourism Fair of Romania this coming weekend, where they come with their best and cheapest tourist packages. The event is happening at Romexpo in Bucharest.

But there’s more: online and offline bookshops, pet shops, food retailers, toy stores, optics stores, photo & video shops or medical providers - most (if not all) of them got ready for Black Friday, offering discounts for a wide variety of products or services. Plus, the banks have also joined the Black Friday sales event, among them UniCredit and Banca Transilvania.

The telecom players on the Romanian market have also prepared special packages for Black Friday, which include discounted subscriptions and extra benefits. For example, those who decide to change their operator and opt for Telekom, will also get two tickets to the Romania-Sweden match as a gift, in addition to smartphones at discounted prices. Vodafone, Orange and Digi also have special offers.

Shopping tips:

To make sure that you don’t end up spending more than planned, make a list before the sales period starts. If what you want to buy is among the products that usually sell fast, online retailers such as eMag offer the possibility to save the products in a list of ‘favorites’. This way, when the sales campaign starts, you don’t have to search for that product again, it’s right there in your ‘favorites’ list.

Compare offers and try to see how the prices evolved over time. Some discounts can turn out to be fake discounts.

Buy only from trusted platforms and, if you already have an account, make sure your data is correct before the big sales event, as this will help you move faster. Avoid the retailers that do not display complete contact details (address, telephone, unique tax identification code) and only display a simple email address.

If you decide to make the payment online, by card, be careful when you provide your credit or debit card details. Decline the transaction if you are asked the PIN number; it’s ok if you’re asked to share the CVV number on the back of your card.

Reading the Black Friday regulations of the retailers before buying something from their websites and knowing the return policy is also a good idea. Also, check the delivery times before placing an order, as they can vary a lot given that the courier companies are quite busy in this period.

newsroom@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: ID 163550778 © Marek Uliasz - Dreamstime.com)