Christmas is coming: Black Friday arrives on November 25th

By Matthew Kinlin

This year, we will see Black Friday arrive on 25^th November and with it comes a wave of excited shoppers looking to grab a great bargain.

Black Friday is the annual date that marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, a huge amount of retailers will offer promotional sales and bargains to kick off the Christmas season.

The following week will see the start of the Christmas shopping period with shoppers flocking out to find the best presents for Christmas. The start of the week has been named ‘Mad Monday’ to announce the arrival of the crazy shopping season.

This means that shoppers will be able to find some great sales to start the season. They can pick up specific items for reduced prices and track down some bargains.

This will help to kick-start the shopping season. Buyers want to get in there early and find what they want whilst stock lasts. Reduced prices will encourage buyers to start looking early for Christmas.

Black Friday is the official launch for retailers. It marks the moment they will officially start pushing Christmas products. Offering reduced rates will get people in the shops and on their websites looking for what they want.

Large online retailers, like Amazon, are offering a ‘Black Friday Deals Week’. This will feature hundred of deals and millions of pounds of savings for online shoppers.

With the official launch of the Christmas season, online shopping will become a much busier place and just like in shopping centres, the internet should be well prepared for this huge influx of custom.

Why Schmidt reminds me to embrace grocery shopping, by Jackie @ Adrac

The prospect of humans being chipped to enhance their search experience is so bizarre that I actually checked my calendar didn’t say April 1st. I’m still not entirely sure that Google’s Eric Schmidt isn’t playing with us, even a little: perhaps it’s fun to wind us up and watch us hop madly.

Still, this is thought-consuming subject. I sat in my modern office at Adrac and imagined myself in an ultra-modern world like Minority Report; I am walking through a shopping centre mall and the advertising boards are asking me about my satisfaction with previous purchases and targeting my needs tastes preferences in their next sales pitch.

I reflected muchly on the fact that my pets are chipped, so if they get lost, I have a better chance of being reunited with them.

I also thought a little more about ID Cards in the UK and how the idea really raised our hackles: the British Bulldog has a fighting streak when it feels its freedom is being threatened.

Time is precious because we like to work hard and play hard in the 21st century: however, I’m prepared to shoulder the inconvenience of the grocery shopping trip navigated using a hastily scribbled list on the back of an old envelope; in return for knowing that, for at least some portion of the day – probably when I am asleep – I am not observed or data routinely collated about me and my life habits.

Though perhaps even the fact I am “not connected” is data in itself!

In this “always-connected” age where we have our mobiles on us all the time, it is sometimes difficult to remember what it is like to be able disconnect ourselves and enjoy our own company. One day, we might not have this luxury.