Black Friday is known to be the busiest shopping day with lots of good offers and discounts in the United States, but the concept of Black Friday has since appeared in multiple other countries, including Norway. So, let’s take a closer look at what Black Friday in Norway is like!
Black Friday, and especially Black Week the entire week leading up to Friday is very popular and common in Norway, but the offers and sales tend to be about the same as regular sales. It’s not guaranteed to give you great prices, but you can find good deals if you pay attention.
You will find that pretty much all the stores in Norway has a “Black Week” where they have certain products for sale at a reduced price. Most stores will offer exclusive discounts on Black Friday itself, while some will just have the deals running the entire Black Week.
A busy shopping day, but nothing extraordinary
If you’re coming from the United States, you might think that you are guaranteed to get good deals on Black Friday, but that’s not really the case in Norway.
Some stores will offer good discounts for certain products, but you are overall not likely to make a good deal unless you do your research.
Stores in Norway tend to rise their prices on products the weeks leading up to Black Week or Black Friday, then sell the same product at a “big” discount on Black Friday. The only problem is that the “big discount” just leads the product to costing the same that it would in the weeks before the price rise, or is just slightly cheaper.
It’s a huge ethical problem, but so far the Norwegian stores get away with it. This means that you will see lots of fake Black Friday offers in Norway, so don’t be hypnotized by the “X % discount” posters and rather look at the actual price compared to normal.
All that said, you will come across some good deals, so you can buy some cheap stuff if you prepare ahead of time to learn how to spot the fake offers.
Tip: Use Prisjakt to check the historical price of the things you consider buying. This will show you if the Black Friday offer is indeed a good offer, or just a fake discount.
Sales are common all year long in Norway
Norwegian stores and retailers tend to have different sales multiple times per season, and the Black Friday sales tend to not be much different from the other sales. This has lead to the Black Week or Black Friday not being particularly special in Norway, and just be considered like just any other sale.
It’s unlikely to get better deals at Black Week than you would at the Christmas Sales, end of summer sales, “back to school” sales, Easter sales or any other sale.
The regional manager at Prisjakt, Christoffer Reina, told the Norwegian newspaper TV2 that about 3/4 of the offers on Black Friday had been on a lower sale price earlier in the year. Which means that only about a quarter of the offers were indeed better than at regular sales.
The history of Black Friday in Norway
Black Friday has its debut in Norway in 2010, so it’s a pretty new tradition here. Since then, Black Friday kept growing year by year.
At around 2015, the concept of Black Week began to get a foothold, and has since become more popular. These days most stores have Black Week the entire week leading up to Black Friday.
The reception of Black Friday in Norway has been pretty lukewarm, and most Norwegians don’t particularly care much about the day.
Frequently asked questions about Black Friday in Norway
What is the Norwegian word for Black Friday?
Norwegian does not have a word used for Black Friday, so we just call it Black Friday.
Are the stores in Norway busy on Black Friday?
Yes, most stores are pretty busy on Black Friday in Norway. However, it’s very uncommon for stores to have queues out in front before it opens or anything like that.