KOCHI: American music, culture and Hollywood have been adopted with enthusiasm across the world, even in a faraway city like Kochi. So perhaps it should be no great surprise that in these highly socially-connected times, American holidays, like Thanksgiving, have gradually made an entry into the shopping calendar, alongside Onam, Vishu, Eid and Christmas.
Online shopping sites led the trend of the Black Friday sales, an informal name for the Friday after Thanksgiving in the US. According to Ranjini M Ravi of Kochi-based Meg Designs and Alter, Thanksgiving sales are now becoming a trend in the city.
"The trend was brought in by branded couture boutiques, especially those belonging to the companies based in the US and Europe. Thanksgiving sales come in around the early days of the Christmas season in the city," she said. However, indigenous boutiques had not picked up on the trend.
This year though, Seematti launched a Thanksgiving sales at their showrooms. "We launched the sales on Thursday and the response have been promising," said Beena Kannan, CEO, Seematti. "I wanted to do something novel and bring in the festive spirit. It has nothing to do with Onam season passing quietly this year in the state."
Beena said it makes sense to amalgamate the American concept into the Kerala ambiance since there a lot of expats and NRKs here who have been exposed to US culture. Will it become an annual trend? Beena replied, "That will depend upon how successful is it this year."
According to experts, all the so-called new trends are basically marketing strategies. "There are Thanksgiving dinners being offered by various hotels," said V Venugopal, president, Cochin Chamber of Commerce. "However, Thanksgiving sales are a new trend and of course, once such a trend is launched by somebody, others will pick it up."
He pointed out Harrisons Malayalam has organised Thanksgiving dinners for staff and family for the past six decades."I have been attending the Thanksgiving dinners held by the company for the past 35 years. It won't be wrong to say that the company might be the only institution to do so in the state," he said.
According to him, the event exudes communal harmony with everyone irrespective of their religion participating. But he added Thanksgiving and Black Friday are still foreign and unfamiliar concepts.
"Online platforms and sometimes banks have been announcing various offers in tandem with these holidays, but people jump in without even understanding what all the hoopla is about. The word discount is enough to attract people in this consumerist society of ours," said an expert.
What is Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is an American tradition synonymous with giving thanks and spending time with loved ones. Today, it has turned into a frenzied holiday shopping season. The day after Thanksgiving is regarded as the beginning of America's Christmas shopping season since 1952, although the term 'Black Friday' become widely used, in the more recent decades. It was common for retailers to open at 6 am, but in the late 2000's many started opening shop at 5 am or 4 am. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers opened at midnight for the first time. There have been reports of violence on Black Friday.