Black Friday at eMag to bring HUF 3.2 bln of discounts

Catalin Dit, country manager of eMAG Hungary

The company expects 3 million unique visitors and an increase of 10% in the total value of sold products. This year will mark the sixth edition of eMAGʼs Black Friday event, marking the start of Christmas shopping. 

The firm says that last year, 88% of its products were the cheapest on the domestic market, which is one of the reasons why the popularity of the promotion has been on the rise since its inception.

"This is the most important day of the year in e-commerce, not only for us, but also for our customers," said Catalin Dit, country manager of eMAG Hungary. "They will not only get the lowest prices compared to our competitors, but also compared to our prices at other times of the year."

Last year, more than 250,000 products were sold for a total value of nearly HUF 7 bln, up 19% compared to 2017. This is also a peak for marketplace partners on eMAG.hu, as last year, 1,279 domestic SMEs made some Black Friday promotions, providing nearly 70,000 products, or 27% of all products sold.

Big rush predicted this year

According to research conducted by the site, nearly 90% of Hungarians have already heard about Black Friday in some form, and a fifth of them plan to buy something, resulting in nearly three million visitors on eMAG.hu and its mobile app on a single day.

The company says that its range of products included in the promotional offer and the stock of promotional products are expanding significantly, meanings that some promotions will be available for a longer period of time.

In addition to everyday products, eMAG also offers special products on this day: cars, experiences, travel, luxury items, airline and theatre tickets, yachts, and even a plane. To ensure a smooth handling of incoming questions and orders, the company is heading into this yearʼs Black Friday with an increased customer service team and five delivery partners. The company says that all products are expected at their destination by December 7 at the latest.

Clear policy on pricing before Black Friday

Regarding possible price hikes right before Black Friday to make discounts look huge, Dit told the Budapest Business Journal that the company has a clear policy on the matter.

"We have a very good policy on that, we do not play with the clientsʼ perception," the country managing partner noted. "Our system blocks prices 30 days before BF, so prices can not be changed and no such situation can arise. However, there is a situation that must be seen clearly."

"On one hand, eMAG, as a distributor, sells products directly. On the other hand, we have the eMAG Marketplace platform for other sellers. Currently, we have around 4,500 sellers registered on the Marketplace platform, and it is 100% their choice what kind of commercial policy they decide to follow. We do not want and we are not able to control their policy," Dit added.

"So we need to separate in mind the two areas: Marketplace and the commercial policy implemented there is the sole decision of these 4,500 sellers, and separate from that that are the products that we sell directly and prices do not change, except from very special circumstances, with approval from the top management. Situations like the one you mentioned can occur in our system only if a supplier decides to raise the RRP [recommended retail price] on the whole Hungarian market," he explained.