Pre- 2020 Black Friday Puerh Sales

Last year both white2tea and Yunnan Sourcing broke with tradition, (intense competition,) and offered more substantial sales and marketing weeks before Black Friday.  Others such as Tea Urchin and Tea Encounter offered their Black Friday sales earlier and ran them straight through Cyber Monday.  It certainly signalled a shift in the normal Black Friday sales for Western puerh vendors.  By looking at how things are shaking down in 2020 and whether they are repeating their marketing pattern of 2019 Black Friday, we can get some idea of whether last year’s strategy was a good idea or not.

Last year’s Yunnan Sourcing strategy of blowing up the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday sale must have worked for them because they are pretty much repeating it again which means lots of sales (10%, BOGO, Free Gift) are running now.  A 15% off sale is any day now.  Scott has also completely poked holes in the illusion of the sale and said openly that if you are looking to buy lots or spend lots, or miss out on a sale, he could offer you some substantial discount if you contact him.

Last year white2tea did something a bit different by doing two releases of their 2019 Autumn Sheng puerh.  They did one at the start of November and the other on Black Friday.  It looks like this marketing strategy didn’t work because so far in 2020 nothing has been released.  It is increasingly apparent that their will only be the Black Friday drop of Autumn Sheng.  We should also expect the staples- Tunji and Snoozefest but probably others too of what? Who knows?  White2tea’s Halloween sale will probably be the best if you are just looking for shu puerh... and because it was actually a sale...

If you look back at all the Pre Black Friday puerh sales of 2019 it is a bit surprising that it has been so quiet.  None of the other puerh vendors are dropping their sales yet.  Seems many puerh vendors feel that a more traditional Black Friday sale is the better way to go?  It most definitely hasn’t gotten me as excited as previous years.    I guess I’m not looking to buy this year as I decided to front load my 2020 puerh purchases this spring for good cakes that are now sold out.  The one vendor I might spring for is Tea Encounter as they have a few puerh that are still stuck in my head from my sampling of them.  It’s a long shot because I’m tapped out this year but you never know.  If I make a purchase this year you can be certain the sale and/or marketing got the best of me...

The way things are shaping up there will be an explosion of sales and releases on the day which for me is entertaining enough!

Peace