Black Friday,
a day after Thanksgiving, initiates the season of Christmas shopping in the
United States. The day is marked as a public holiday in 20 out of the 50 states
in the US. It’s also a day when brands and retailers offer hefty discounts on
things to encourage sales. Black Friday comes with huge rush in supermarkets as
well as hefty traffic on shopping websites.

However,
this year, companies have been wary of giving very heavy discounts, Twitter
users are complaining on the social media platform. Brands which would go to
the extent of offering up to 50% discounts on their items on Black Friday are
reportedly offering only 10-20%, some Twitter users say.

A Twitter
user who goes by the handle @keyon wrote: “Anything less than 50% off is not a
Black Friday deal.”

Another
Twitter handle, Ballsack Sports, which deals in satire, posted an apparent
screenshot of the popular sportswear brand’s website, which showed the company
offering extremely paltry discounts. Shoes which are priced at $85 are selling
for $84.97 and those for $40 are selling for $39.97.

“Black Friday
sales when I was a kid: $500 off on our $600 TVs! 90% off on all video games! Free
cars. Black Friday sales now that I have a job and money: $1 off on our $2,000
laptops, a half-eaten banana with every purchase of a $2bil gaming console,”
wrote another Twitter user.

Yet another
Twitter user tweeted: “If your Black Friday sale is 20% and lower idk what to
say to you like…that’s a Tuesday sale.”

And
@Marlon23rd wrote that these were not the Black Friday sales that started
stampedes.

Low
discounts on Black Friday have not only been flagged in the United States but
in the United Kingdom too. Britain’s cost-of-living crisis is casting a gloom
over Black Friday sales, Reuters reported. Britain is currently facing a
41-year-high inflation and people seem to be cutting back on spending.

Amazon
cofounder and former CEO Jeff Bezos cautioned against buying TVs, fridges and
cars in sales earlier this month. He called upon consumers to “slow that down,
keep that cash, see what happens.”