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19 March 2024

UAE's biggest online sale? 'Black' vs 'White' Friday

One of the advertisements pushing the big online sale. (Supplied)

Published
By Parag Deulgaonkar

Online retailer AlShop.com will be holding a ‘Black Friday’ event on November 28, with Souq.com having a ‘White Friday’ sale on the same day.

Advertisements on both websites announce the same and could see the UAE’s first all-out, big-sale internet clash.

“Mark your calendar check out our Black Friday deals,” AlShop says, referring to deals such as Samsung’s 40- inch LED for Dh999 and the Samsung Galaxy 4 at Dh999.

The Souq.com website states: “Up to 70 per cent off on White Friday sale  – the lowest prices of the year.” The two-day sale starts on November 27.

Black Friday is the traditional opening day for holiday spending and follows Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

Regional Internet usage is growing about 40 per cent a year, with Middle East and North Africa e-commerce spending estimated at $12 billion in 2014 and $15 billion the year after.

Online purchase intentions in UAE have doubled since 2011 for many durable and entertainment-related categories including e-books and event tickets, Nielsen, a global information and measurement company, recently said.

About half of UAE respondents intend to make an online purchase in the next six months in high-prominence categories including airline tickets, hotel reservations and event tickets.

Around 53 per cent of UAE respondents use mobile phones for online shopping — nine per cent higher than the global average of 44 per cent, Nielsen’s says.

In October, Flipkart, India-based e-commerce company, sent letters to its customers apologising for the glitches that the site encountered during the “Big Billion Day” sale as it struggled to keep up with the heavy traffic.