Fifty Shades of Black Friday

Promotional events, such as Black Friday and Singles’ Day, have become prominent fixtures in the calendar worldwide, offering consumers significant discounts and driving immense sales volumes. These events originated in different parts of the world but have gained global recognition due to the proliferation of e-commerce and international trade. They’re characterized by retailers offering substantial discounts, both online and in-store, prompting a frenzy of consumer activity. They have also been present in the Italian market, and it might be worth researching today about the effectiveness of these promotions, between different media and channels, also evaluating the implications in terms of sustainability of the customer journey. Through two sessions of three Focus Groups each, this contribution seeks to bring out the point of view of Gen Z, with the dual purpose of integrating the stream of literature on Big Discount Days (BDDs) and providing some managerial implications for the companies.