UK coffee brand, Paddy & Scott’s, is gearing up for a four day black out online as it battles against the year’s biggest retail discounting consumer trend.
Turning its back on retail’s most buoyant trading period, Paddy & Scott’s will close its online shop from Black Friday to Cyber Monday (25th to 28th November) and will instead send its freed-up team into the community to work in local charities.
The brand, which is renowned for its ethical approach and giving back to communities both at home and coffee growing regions around the world, has made the decision not to jump on the Black Friday bandwagon this year, a time that promotes huge discounts and encourages consumers to spend money on stuff they don’t necessarily need or want. Instead, with the online shop offline, Paddy & Scott’s team will be heading out into the community to help four local charities and enterprises that have been selected by the team; Suffolk Libraries, Little Lifts, Rural Coffee Caravan and St Helena Hospice.
“We have dipped our toe in the Black Friday waters before, but just found it to be a highly charged frenzy designed to encourage consumers to spend money they don’t have on consuming stuff they probably don’t need or want. At a time when countless people around the UK are struggling to pay their heating bills, this period of online supermarket sweep, doesn’t really connect with our moral compass. Nor does the trend of pushing up prices, only to apply false discounts for the duration of Black Friday weekend.”
“We could have just sat it out, and carried on trading as normal, but we wanted to make a stand and give our team the chance to invest their efforts in making a real difference. Yes, it is risky shutting down the website for four days, but it will give us a chance to shine the light on something more positive and support local enterprises like Rural Coffee Caravan, who help rurally isolated people in Suffolk access health and wellbeing services and Little Lifts that provide free gift boxes to breast cancer patients receiving treatment,” says Paddy & Scott’s CEO, Jon Reed. “Every team member is going to be offered the opportunity to work in the community, starting on Black Friday, but ongoingly over the weeks that follow.”
Last year, it was reported that a third of UK consumers boycotted Black Friday, with 28% of UK shoppers worried about the environmental impacts of shopping and 1 in 5 declining to make any purchases for this reason. On the other hand, 20% of people admitted that the low prices would often lead to them buying things they didn’t need. Jon continues, “Black Friday is usually a time where people are encouraged to buy more in time for Christmas and we understand that this can lead to a throw-away culture, which isn’t good for the planet, people or small businesses. At Paddy & Scott’s we are committed to reducing our environmental impact in whatever way we can.”
Over the Black Friday weekend, Paddy & Scott’s will be shining a light on each of the charities and small businesses it is supporting on its social media pages.
Paddy & Scott’s coffee shops will remain open as usual between 25th and 28th November.
