Today is not just Black Friday; it’s also Blackpink Friday. A double whammy for investing in immediate gratification

When it comes to good things, a double feature always beats a single performance. Today, our little island’s supply-and-demand curve decided to throw a party. Indeed, Singapore experienced a rare overlap of cultural spectacle and retail frenzy. We have been hit with a double surge of consumption: Blackpink’s three-night Deadline tour at the National Stadium coincided with Black Friday, creating overlapping waves of spending in entertainment, retail, and tourism. Major international concerts like Blackpink’s have a profound and measurable multiplier effect on the host city’s economy, boosting numerous sectors far beyond just the music industry. Top that with the start of Black Friday sales, and the jackpot landed. As one business owner told us, “it is quite an economic festival weekend.”

The tills were ringing loudest at the Blackpink merchandise pop-up in Leisure Mall Kallang and, later, on the grounds of the stadium, the true epicenter of the Blackpink–Black Friday collision. The stadium may have hosted the spectacle, but the merch pop-up was the cash-register heart of the whole affair. Ironically, the pop-up was insulated from any pressure of the Black Friday frenzy. While Orchard Road was rather placid this year, even when retailers did slash prices and hawk “deals”, the concert merch counter stood firm: no discounts, no bundles, no markdowns. A Black Friday discount is based on monetary savings. Blackpink merch is based on emotional, experiential value. Fans are buying a memory, a status symbol, and an entry into the community—value that is immuned to mark-downs. Concert-merch economy, as we have seen repeatedly, runs on a different gravitational law: scarcity beats discount.

Blackpink merch is based on emotional, experiential value. Fans are buying a memory, a status symbol, and an entry into the community—value that cannot be marked down

Meanwhile at Orchard Road, it was less frenetic than expected, far from euphoric chaos that we witnessed in 2020, possibly because back then we had just been freed from the “circuit breaker” lockdown, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the current Black Friday promotions, foot traffic was steady, but not overwhelming. What should have been quite the spectacle was seemingly overshadowed by the gravitational pull of Blackpink at Kallang. But it could also be due to consumer fatigue. After years of normalised online shopping, the urgency of amazing deals has waned. Given the recent 11.11 (or 9.9 and 10.10 before that, and the upcoming 12.12) on all major e-commerce platforms, discounts feel routine rather than exceptional. Platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, and Amazon SG absorbed much of the spending, offering convenience and algorithmic personalisation that Orchard Road can’t match. There is less novelty of deals, making the economic injection from Blackpink happen in Kallang and the online platforms, leaving Orchard Road surprisingly quieter.

Black Friday is essentially an American retail frenzy, staged on the Friday after Thanksgiving and tied to holiday sales. Spending is notably on necessary, utilitarian products (i.e. big-ticket electronics or household items), and motivated by fear of missing a low price. But, if this year, Orchard Road is any indication, Black Friday is losing its shine. While electronics and gadgets remain central, local malls often extend deals to fashion, cosmetics, and dining. Singapore doesn’t have Thanksgiving, so the event lacks the seasonal anchor. It’s more of a globalized retail festival than a domestic tradition. This sense is compounded by the fact that American anything now feels less appealing as U.S. branding does not resonate anymore. Retail is no longer—and need not be—about importing stateside models or American hype. The lesson is clear: our retail future lies in creating our own, hyper-localised high, with or without Blackpink. After all, with the quartet in town, the biggest ticket item wasn’t a discounted TV—it was a concert ticket and a S$106 hoodie, all sold at full price.

Photo illustration: Zhao Xiangji and Just So