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Retailers expecting another record day on Black Friday

Laura Ruperez
November 22nd, 2018


This article is more than 6 years old.

Also increasing is the number of people watching the news on Black Friday to watch idiots fighting each other over the latest must-haves (photo: Powhusku)

Black Friday is now the biggest single spending day in Denmark. The tiny country that prides itself on minimalism has not only adopted the most materialistic day the world has ever known, but is in fact excelling at it.

In 2017, Danes spent almost 2.1 billion kroner (282 million euros) on Black Friday, according to TV2. The figure makes 24 November 2017 the biggest shopping day of all time in Denmark. It represented a 5.6 percent rise on the year before.

In just five years
Dorte Wimmer, the retail and consumer director at the Retail Institute Scandinavia, notes that this growth in popularity is unusual.

“It’s quite remarkable that it’s grown so fast because it took us more than 20 years to fall in love with Valentine’s Day – and Halloween as well,” she told CPH POST.

“But Black Friday has been very popular in just five years.”

Soaring numbers
Black Friday isn’t the first American holiday to be exported to Denmark, but no other American holiday has become so popular so fast.

An October 2016 survey carried out by Dansk Erherv revealed that 78 percent of adults had heard of Black Friday – up from 52 percent the year before. That number has now reached 92 percent.

Additionally, 16 percent of respondents said they knew of Cyber Monday – a 10 percentage-point increase from 2015.

Smart shoppers
According to Wimmer, Danes are merely being smart shoppers when it comes to Black Friday.

“Everyone wants to save money, and the Danes have a large appetite for discounts,” she said.

Wimmer predicts that this year’s Black Friday will smash last year’s single day shopping record. However, she does think that days like Cyber Monday or Amazon Prime Day will rival Black Friday in the future.

 

 


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”