SHOP TILL YOU DROP!

MBABANE – The town was abuzz with jingling bells and flamboyant displays of discounted prices.

The festive season has already kicked off in the right direction as Black Friday will be celebrated in stores across the country.
According to www.consumerassociation.com, Black Friday is the day after thanksgiving, regarded as the first day of the traditional Christmas shopping season on which retailers offer special reduced prices.

This was the case in most of the retail stores in the capital city, as they offered tempting discounts which were impossible to ignore. Lojaf Pick n Pay was among the big retail stores which offered discounted prices on food, home essentials and alcohol.

affordable

The store’s manager, Richard Jarvis mentioned that they were giving good prices. “Black Friday is a chance to give back basic needs to customers at affordable prices, and we are not just running this for this Friday (today) but the entire weekend,” said Jarvis.
He further mentioned that their anticipation as a store was good sales.

Jarvis said it was unfortunate that the prices would prevail while stocks lasted, but advised people not to miss the weekend’s special. One of the glaring items that were discounted at the store was 1.5 litres of cooking oil, which was reduced from a whopping E42 to E28.50.  The normal price for a 2kg washing powder is E49 but was reduced to E42. Spar Superstores also had discounted prices on most of the items in store. Prices were discounted up to 50 per cent off on
Meanwhile, hardware stores were not left behind on the Black Friday hype.

The Swaziland Supply Centre Store Manager, Kingdom Mlotshwa, said it was their first time hosting the sales and they hoped it would turn out successfully. Mlotshwa reiterated that Black Friday was a form of giving customers high quality merchandise at reasonable prices. He said they would go all out as a store and prices would be reduced to 50 per cent off.

Hi-Fi Corp also reduced its prices to surprisingly low prices on laptops, television sets, refrigerators and household items. The store’s manager, Bonginkhosi Ndzimandze, said they would be availing opportunities for their customers by giving them superior products which were reasonably priced.

Crazy

He also stated that some of the items were not advertised. “There will be selected prices for customers, some of which have not been shown on the adverts we published, so customers should come to see for themselves the crazy deals we have in store for them,” said Ndzimandze.

Meanwhile, Consumer Association Chairman Bongani Mdluli advised consumers against reckless spending during the Black Friday excitement and festive hype. “Before one makes a decision to purchase goods, it is imperative that they think carefully about the products they want to buy and plan for them prior,” said Mdluli.

He further stated that some goods may be priced at their normal prices, but because there is the frenzy that products would be sold cheaply, people may find that they had spent irresponsibly. He also warned consumers against carrying large sums of cash with them.

Mdluli said people should be mindful that the discounted prices would only last for a few weeks, but if people were not careful, they could be left bankrupt. He said this led to desperate situations where people then resorted to borrowing money from moneylenders.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: