No need to wait for Black Friday for Black Friday deals

A teaser image for Shinsegae’s upcoming promotional event. [SHINSEGAE GROUP]

Black Friday seems to be coming earlier every year, with retailers holding sales far ahead of the late November shopping event as they try to revive business lagging as a result of the pandemic.

Shinsegae Department Store, Emart and SSG.com plan to hold an SSG Day event starting next week. The actual date of the event is Oct. 31, but the pre-sales event started Tuesday.

Shinsegae will start offering what it describes as unconventional discounts.

For the first time, automobiles are being sold on SSG.com. Brands like Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari will be available at a lower price than at offline stores. The Mercedes-Benz Maybach S560 and Ferrari 812 GTS are some of the models available. Camper vans and yachts will also be sold online for the first time.

Lotte Shopping announced the start of a similar promotion on its Lotte On online platform for 10 days starting on Friday.

In celebration of Lotte’s 41st anniversary, seven Lotte retail companies, including Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart, Lotte Super and Lotte Hi-Mart, will be offering discounts. During the event, the prices of 500,000 products will be cut up to 80 percent.

Lotte will release around 10-billion-won ($8.8 million) worth of discount coupons through Thursday.

Until last year, Lotte Shopping companies held promotional events separately through their online and offline channels. This year, they are integrated under Lotte On, which was started in April.

Coupang already began its promotional event, which will continue through Nov. 1.

Its Mini Black Friday promotion will be centered on household appliances and electronics goods. Up to 53 percent discounts on around 800 products are being offered.

A total of 61 brands, including SK Magic and Dyson, are taking part in the event. Cell phones, televisions and laptops are a few of the products available.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]