The term Black Friday is currently associated with a marketing event originating in the USA, which is considered the beginning of the pre-Christmas shopping season. The discounts offered by retailers during the event make it one of the busiest shopping days of the year. This tradition, as it happens, has moved to the old continent. But often in a very modified form. Therefore, the customer can easily get lost in the tangle of slogans and bombastic catchwords. How to know what is a real discount and what is a sales gimmick? Advice from our partner Veronika Odrobinová.
In the United States, Black Friday is still mostly concentrated in one day. However, the Czech equivalent is diluted into many weeks. Apparently, considering the fact that in our country the event does not have such a tradition, traders launch it practically at any time. Therefore, Veronika Odrobinová recommends that people who are thinking about buying a particular item at a discount should start looking into it before Black Friday. It is important to know how its price moves over time.

In this context, she also mentions the current “discount legislation”: “As of January 2023, under the Consumer Protection Act (Section 12a(1)(a)), businesses are required to calculate the amount of the discount from the lowest price, at which they sold the product in the last 30 days.” Exceptions to this obligation are perishable goods or goods with a short shelf life (non-perishable food, cut flowers, etc.). 
“So, pay close attention to the price tags. Merchants often include the information about the lowest price in the last 30 days (if at all) only in micro letters,” advises Veronika Odrobinová, pointing out that since the introduction of this obligation, labels such as “permanently low”, “price bomb”, “unbeatable” have been added to indicate a bargain price, but not a discount.

In the context of confusing or even misleading price tags, there is one more trick to watch out for, namely conditional discounts. Price reductions are increasingly linked to various other conditions, such as a minimum amount of the entire purchase, application only to selected goods (only the most expensive or only the cheapest goods) or registration in the app of the given store.

Has the new legislation eradicated false discounts?

Despite the tightening of discount legislation, consumers must continue to face unfair commercial practices. Data from the 2023 report of the Czech Trade Inspection reveal that last year the CTIA carried out 1,665 inspections in the area of discounts and found violations in 816 cases – i.e. in every second inspection. Ms Odrobinová explains why the percentage is still so high in the following way: “The current legislation does not completely prevent (artificial) price increases before a discount offer. Thus, it cannot be excluded that some businesses have increased the price well in advance so that they can subsequently provide an (artificial) discount during Black Friday (or before Christmas, etc.).

How not to fall for it then? Retailers are and will always be inventive in their discounting tricks, so Veronika Odrobinová advises shopping more through e-shops. “In general, the possibility of withdrawing from a contract makes it safer for consumers to buy through an e-shop. Besides, in the online environment, the consumer can more easily compare the price of the product they want across the market and over time,” she explains.

But of course, caution is also necessary when shopping online, where fake e-shops and fake profiles on various sales platforms are on the rise. Therefore, Veronika Odrobinová appeals to buyers to check on the list of risky e-shops maintained by the Czech Trade Inspection Authority if they have not fallen into a trap before making any purchase from an “unknown” e-shop.

In the case of purchases through better-known e-shops, it recommends checking that consumers are actually on the website of the e-shop in question. Czech e-shops typically have .cz or .com domains, the link should not include words unrelated to the e-shop.

Finally, she recommends considering the use of services that allow the consumer to defer payment until the moment of receipt of the goods. This refers to cash-on-delivery.

The full version of the text was published as an interview for the server peníze.cz.