At Akustikstoff.com we believe in fair prices, solid advice, high-quality materials and customers who prefer to make thoughtful decisions rather than being rushed by artificial scarcity. Here’s why we don’t run Black Friday promotions and why that ultimately benefits you.
As soon as November begins, the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy starts almost everywhere. Retailers push Black Friday, Black Week, Cyber Monday, Singles Day and an ever-expanding range of cleverly orchestrated sales events, each promising offers that are supposedly available only today, only now, or only for a few hours. You may well have caught yourself clicking on one of these “mega deals” and later wondered whether the offer was genuinely good or whether you simply gave in to the impulse of the moment.Perhaps you have also felt fooled when you discovered afterwards that a product had quietly become more expensive a few weeks before the big discount event, only to reappear at a “super-saver price” that looked suspiciously similar to the original normal price.
We know these mechanisms all too well and view them with considerable scepticism. Honest pricing is, in our view, the most respectful way to treat all customers. That is why we deliberately refrain from Black Friday discounts, Cyber Monday offers, Singles Day deals and anything else in that direction. We do not wish to fool our customers with artificial price drama or consumption pressure.
Reliable prices instead of artificial discount battles
You may have noticed how often prices climb shortly before major discount weeks, only so that high percentage reductions can later be advertised on banners. That is not how we work. We do not believe in staging fantasy discounts that would only be possible if we manipulated pricing elsewhere beforehand. It goes against everything we stand for. We calculate the prices for our high-quality speaker cloth in a way that allows them to remain fair for everyone over the long term. If you order today, you pay the same as someone ordering in February, at Easter or in August.And here is something many people do not realise: Black Friday was not invented by a certain popular American online retail giant. The last Friday in November traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season, and the final weekend of November has been the strongest sales period in retail for decades. Equally old are the artificially inflated “strikethrough” prices and pseudo-discounts: enormous recommended retail prices that are already crossed out on the original labels, particularly familiar from department stores and certain clothing brands. A related trick is producing simplified product variants specifically for the pre-Christmas season.
We reject these widespread marketing tactics that aim to boost year-end revenue with quick-fire promotions. We offer our speaker cloth at consistently fair, carefully calculated prices throughout the year. We do not produce budget variants for sale weeks and we do not compromise on quality. We have one quality level: the best we can manufacture. This is precisely why there is no room for short-term promotional prices, “one-day only” messages or discount battles designed merely to confuse. Transparency and a clear pricing structure matter more to us.
Of course, you will occasionally find reduced-price items in our shop. We sometimes offer remaining stock of discontinued colours or product lines at a lower price to free up storage space. Now and then we see colour deviations during dyeing or surplus batches from special colour runs. These batches are also available at reduced prices, and you may well find genuine bargains with flawless quality.
But we have no interest in driving spontaneous purchases through countdown timers, flashing banners or “only two hours left” psychology. Our acoustic fabrics are not disposable goods and should never be treated as such. All the more reason why everyone should receive the same fair price at all times. We do not want anyone to feel they have bought “at the wrong time” simply because they did not wait for the next discount week.
Less consumption pressure, more sustainability
Growing criticism is emerging around Black Friday and Black Week because they fuel unnecessary consumption. You may have seen the reports last year: activists temporarily blocked the distribution centres of the large online retailer whose parcels carry that smiling logo. Some specialist shops even raised their prices during Black Week and held swapping events in their stores to take a clear stance against wasteful overconsumption.As an online retailer we cannot host a swapping event for speaker cloth, but we fully share the concerns about indiscriminate shopping. We do not want to encourage unnecessary impulse buying. We want you to buy consciously because you genuinely need what we offer and because you will enjoy our speaker fabrics for a long time.
Black Friday: pressure on delivery services
One aspect often overlooked is the enormous strain that the Christmas season places on logistics. It would be irresponsible to push additional parcels into already overloaded networks through discount events such as Black Friday, Black Week and Cyber Monday. Yet that is exactly what happens every year.We are again seeing significant pressure on postal and parcel services. Delivery times, especially for our free sample shipments sent by letter, are increasing noticeably. Within the EU, transit times of several weeks are unfortunately no longer unusual. If you have recently requested samples from us, we kindly ask for extra patience.
The situation is particularly challenging for our customers in Italy: fittingly for Black Friday tomorrow on 28 November, a nationwide general strike has been announced, affecting large parts of both the public and private sectors. This will cause further delays in pick-up, transport and delivery and is likely to lead to multi-day disruptions throughout the logistics chain, potentially beyond Italy itself.