Misleading Black Friday discounts: rule rather than exception?

Black Friday discounts are often misleading: a Dutch survey found that no less than three-quarters of retailers misrepresent their discounts. In Belgium, a quarter of the promotions offered by electronics retailers such as Coolblue and MediaMarkt are said to mislead customers.

Strategic price increases

Black Friday is supposed to be the start of the end-of-year season, but all that glitters is not gold. An analysis by Belgian newspaper L’Echo shows that one in four promotions at major Belgian electronics retailers is misleading, because they raise the price in the run-up to the promotion in order to then be able to advertise a seemingly larger discount.