Need to Know
24 : 11 : 17

Canada – The outdoor retailer REI is continuing its tradition of closing its 154 stores on Black Friday, and instead encouraging customers to head outside and enjoy nature.

It is the third consecutive year that the brand has adopted this Righteous Retail strategy, which also provides staff with an extra day of paid holiday to explore outdoors. This year REI has created a user-generated Instagram campaign with the hashtag #OptOutside, which lets people click on a post and see real-time information about the location and experience, as well as using the content to create a series of 20 branded videos to create a greater sense of community and connection to the outdoors.

US – In line with a growing sense of disillusionment with Black Friday, online retailer ModCloth has this year launched its #BlackFridayBreakUp campaign. The brand’s site will be out of action today, with ModCloth instead choosing to give back to the community with a donation of clothing worth more than £3.7m ($5m, €4.2m) to non-profit-making Dress for Success, which helps women re-enter the workplace.

Like REI, ModCloth is giving its staff an extra day off and will be running a social media contest throughout the day that highlights the charitable deeds of ordinary people.

This is the first time in ModCloth’s 15-year history that it will close for Black Friday, demonstrating a shift in thinking away from a purely profit-driven strategy towards a desire to play a more active role in the community.

London – Luxury handbag and accessories brand Bottletop is opening a new store in Regent Street where the interior will be entirely 3D-printed from waste plastic. Created in partnership with Krause Architects and 3D printing technology company Ai Build, the space will be constructed over a two-month period by industrial robots.

During this time customers can visit the space and interact with the iiwa robot, which has been programmed to print personalised Bottletop bag charms from upcycled plastic filament to be taken home as a memento. As awareness increases of the damage that plastic waste does to the environment, forward-thinking brands are using technology to help move towards a circular economy.

New market research suggests that Black Friday, once one of the most important shopping opportunities in the year, is becoming less popular as deals become more ubiquitous all year round.