Thousands of Brazilians start shopping on the eve of Black Friday

Sao Paulo, Brazil, Nov 22 (efe-epa) - A few hours before the official start of Black Friday, thousands of people on Thursday queued at the doors of shops and department stores in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, to fight for the best deals in a country that has not yet recovered from its economic crisis.

Despite the severe recession that hit the South American giant in 2015 and 2016, a period in which the economy plummeted by 7 percent and of which it is just beginning to show signs of recovery, anxious consumers were crowded together waiting for sales and promotions in front of commercial establishments, where sales this year are expected to increase by 3 percent over 2017.

In one of the stores of the supermarket network Extra, located in the southern area of Sao Paulo, hundreds of customers were waiting for the start of sales, which, according to the company, should attract a flow of consumers six times more than on a normal Friday.

According to a survey released by Google Brazil, 94 percent of the country’s buyers previously studied the offers and promotions from which they plan to benefit.

As usual, the big winners of this “Black Friday” is expected to be e-commerce, a sector which expects to grow some 15 percent over last year.