The several dozen shoppers who gathered before the crack of dawn outside stores in Grand Cayman represent a visible increase compared to the handful of people from last year.
Nonetheless, it is a far cry from the crowds which once numbered in the hundreds outside each store, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic – which forced consumers and merchants to rethink Black Friday.
“Black Friday is alive and well in Cayman,” said Mary Reynolds, the general manager of the Cost-U-Less store which has consistently seen among the largest gatherings in Cayman for the past six years.
“This year’s crowd is definitely larger than last year’s crowd, which was wary of COVID,” she told the Cayman Compass.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic saw restrictions imposed on the number of people who could congregate in public places including stores, essentially outlawing large crowds.
In response, store owners were forced to shift from sales which lasted for two days to staggering them over one week, and now, even longer.
Larger crowds may be a thing of the past
By increasing the number of days for their Black Friday sales, wholesale stores across Grand Cayman say they have seen a reduction in the anxiety of consumers – who would otherwise rush to snag a bargain before the sale ended.
“What you typically see in the US, is that stores will take a handful of items and sell them below purchase point, and the result is that people would camp out outside these stores trying to catch the sales when the doors opened, even if it meant beating up your friend,” said Woody Foster, the managing director of Foster’s, which owns Priced Right.
He added, “We have since moved away from that approach, I mean sure it was exciting, and the adrenaline was rushing as people rushed in, but we realised that it was difficult from a logistics perspective, trying to manage all those people in the store. That and it was also not safe.”
Foster said, in addition to increasing the duration of their sales, they also tried to ensure enough goods were in stock.
“We tried out best to ensure we had enough goods in place to be able to meet the demands of our customers, but the last few years have been very bizarre… so it is very hard to tell whether we will have enough.”
At A.L. Thompson’s, a similar approach was implemented.
“We started our sales last week, and I have already run out of stock for some Black Friday items, as well as some Christmas items,” said Larry Thompson, the development manager.
Cost-of-living is having an impact
According to the latest data from the Economic and Statistics Office, Cayman’s cost of living has increased by 12.1% between April and June compared to the same period last year. According to a Cayman Compass analysis, this increase set a record high, exceeding even the price hikes of 11.4% in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan.
Leading the increase was the rise in the cost of housing and utilities (19.2%) and transport (17%). Fuel prices also saw a jump of 37% during the quarter year-on-year, which pushed up the cost of water supply (37.7%) and electricity (20.2%), as well as air travel (11.3%).
Despite these increases, Black Friday sales seem to have been unimpeded.
“What we are seeing is that customers are saying, they have been saving for these sales,” said Reynolds. “They know that this is the best time of the year to get deals like these and so they have been watching and waiting for this time of the year.
“We normally see a slight dip in our October electronic sales, because people tend to save up and wait for now,” he said.
He added, “I don’t know if we are ever going to get back to those kinds of massive crowds that you saw pre-COVID, and that is not just Cayman, you are seeing that everywhere, and instead of doing a one-day event it seems to be going more over the course of a month… so I think you will probably see smaller sales going over a long period of time.”
Related Videos
