Black Friday: Small businesses 'can't compete' with online deals

Small businesses are struggling to compete with large and online retailers offering Black Friday deals, according to some retailers in Northern Ireland.

Black Friday, taking place today, is one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

In the weeks around the day itself, many retailers offer promotions.

"We've found over the last number of years that November is one of the quietest months," said Aaron Burke.

He owns a computer shop in Omagh, County Tyrone.

He said that up until about four years ago November would have been one of his busiest months but now people hold off their shopping for most of the month.

"Consumers seemingly wait to see what the big deal is going to be," he told BBC News NI.

"And as a result they're not calling out to our local shop."

It can be "impossible to compete" with some of the larger retailers who offer Black Friday deals, he added.

"They do get huge cashbacks from the manufacturers and then they also have a 'sale or return' so if they buy things in bulk and they don't sell them, the manufacturer has two options: he either gives them a rebate to encourage them to sell the stock or he takes the stock back, and we would never have that opportunity."

"You're just hoping that when somebody comes in to have a talk with you about buying something that you can convince them that your service can carry you through when your price maybe isn't anywhere near to what a Black Friday price is to them."

Another problem, he said, is that while "there are bargains out there" small businesses also fight against the perception that buying something in a Black Friday sale means you are getting it cheaper, which is not always the case.

"I would follow a lot of the prices from an electronics point of view - laptops, computers and so on - and a lot of the prices aren't actually as good as they appear because there's times in the year where it's actually been that price," he said.

Victoria McDowell owns a women's and children's boutique in Markethill, County Armagh.

She is always feeling the pressures of owning a small business in the current climate.

"It started off, I think, as Black Friday was more for white goods and electronics and it's sort of snowballed," she told BBC News NI.

"It's went into all festive retail and now everybody seems to feel the pressure that they have to do something."

While her shop does run a Black Friday sale, she said she feels she is playing catch-up with online retailers and larger business, who she said can offer bigger discounts on a broader range of stock.

Along with the convenience of online shopping, this makes things even more difficult for small, local businesses in the run-up to Christmas.

"All I hear is businesses closing down - businesses that were established for a very, very, long time and they're folding," she said.

She urged consumers to "support people within their community" by shopping local, and added that the quality of some items sold by local retailers is often superior to those online.

Darren Pollock, who runs an electronics and lighting shop in Coleraine, County Londonderry, said that Black Friday "is now a month-long event", which is "preposterous".

"Small retailers are being forced by everybody coming through their door to drop margins to get sales because they think everyone should be doing this and it should be on every single item," he said.

Mr Pollock said that the constant marketing around Black Friday has changed customers' expectations, even if the deals promised are not always all they claim to be.

"You can't walk into an independent and say the stock that they sell all year round should be cheaper on Black Friday because the margins are tight anyway because we have the internet to compete with all year round," he said.

"November is just not a great month anymore."