Today is “Black Friday,” the beginning of the American Christmas shopping season, and one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year.
Some shoppers think it is called Black Friday because – to take advantage of the deals – you have to get up when it is still black outside…
Others believe it should be named Black and Blue Friday due to the brawls that breakout over limited quantities of this years’ “hottest” toy or electronic item.
Retailers have traditionally provided special sales and incentives to drive traffic to their stores today with the hopes of turning a profit for the year; taking their sales books from “in the red” to “in the black.”
Interesting, while today may be one of the highest traffic days, it traditionally is not the highest sales day. Discounts and special offers end up eroding margins.
Watching commercials during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (the Super Bowl for Christmastime) was interesting. Ads for super-early morning sales, deeper discounts, and extra-special offers gave a sense how anxious retailers are.
CNN Holiday shopping headlines tout: do-it-yourself gifts, getting resourceful with gift wrapping and low-cost decorations, cheaper gadgets in vogue this season, and that, this year, Santa is on a budget.
So, how much are customers willing to pour out of their wallets considering the financial unease and higher prices elsewhere?
Good timing too in reporting gas prices… Last week the average price for a gallon of gas dropped under 2-bucks. The lowest it has been in 46 months. Just in time for gassing up for holiday shopping.
It will be interesting to see the reports by the end of today and on Monday.
Did your company engage in out-of-the-usual tactics to drive traffic and sales? Higher than normal discounts? More than normal value-added items?
Hi Paul. I wonder with the trampling to death of a Wal-Mart employee and gun-fire going off in a CA Toys R Us, if retailers will still decide that door buster specials and the feeding frenzy of 5am deals is worth the price paid. Black Friday deals have been ongoing for some time, but in a tough economy, could some of this have been predicted?
Hi Paul. No, my company didn’t engage in any Black Friday discounting. For us though all indications thus far are that traffic was way up and sales were slightly up for a Friday. We’re a multiple-visit kind of store (we sell custom furniture) so sales not being way up doesn’t surprise me. There do seem to be more folks asking for discounts, but thus far the lack of them doesn’t appear to be dissuading anyone from purchasing.
I’ve talked to a lot of shoppers today as they stopped by and they all seem to be vaguely disappointed by what other retailers were offering in the way of discounts. None of them had purchased anything at all, even those who went out with a specific item in mind. Either the store was out of stock, you had to have a special coupon that they didn’t have or they just didn’t see anything they wanted.
The numbers on Monday should be very interesting.
Alison,
Thanks for commenting… and interesting feedback… It sounds like the shiny objects used to lure customers into stores weren’t so shiny after all.
I wish your store great success! (Stop by DailyFix again if you’re ever looking for great marketing advice… They’ve got some smart people writing here!)
I am an American currently living in Europe where Christmas traditions are celebrated differently… Quite frankly – they are old school – before commercialism has saturated them. In fact, here in Amsterdam, the Dutch celebrate Sinterklass completely separate from the religious day on the 25th.
It’s quite refreshing…
Thanks again for your comments!
Thomas,
Yeah… Black Friday was pretty dark after all.
The US *is* often perceived as a country of excess. The trampling death of a Wal*Mart Christmastime temporary employee… and shootings at Toys-R-Us are pretty sad headlines…
And, unfortunately reinforces that stereotype.
You know that storming the doors at the Long Island Wal*Mart wasn’t an isolated incident – just the only one where someone was hurt enough to have died.
Thanks for your comments, Thomas. We’ll keep an eye on the sales.
With safety issues, bait-and-switch and/or disappointing ’special offers’, and the reality that the discounting doesn’t actually drive sales… It seems that smart retailers would not participate in “Black Friday” activity.
I think that retailers still believe Black Friday discounting is worthwhile. It causes irrational behavior(waking up at 5 am on your day off) and when consumers are thinking irrationally, this is often good for retailers. It also builds a high level of anticipation, which increases demand.
Smart companies are also starting to have a different kind of conversation with customers. One that takes into account our current climate and situation.
On the fun side is UPS. The company came up with Regifter https://www.upsregifter.com/#/showcase/
Time to begin embracing values and infusing those into what we offer. I avoid stores during discount/sales drives. Let’s face it: we don’t really *need* any of it that much.
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Here is my Black Friday story: I was so excited when I placed my order with Sears online for the Samsung washer and dryer on November 27th only to get an email yesterday the 28th in the afternoon that my order had been cancelled! I had looked at the great reviews of these two products and was so looking forward to replacing my 16 year old set of xxxxxx(brand name witheld which came from Sears 16 years ago). I just could not believe that I had received a confirmation of my order and was in the stores the morning of the 28th to get the cords for when mine when mine is delivered and seen others ordering theirs and knew that my order would be to my home in a few weeks. By 1:30pm on the 28th Sears had stopped taking orders at the stores and by 1:53pm I got the email that saddened me deeply that my order CANCELLED! How could that be when mine was placed long before the orders were taken at the store that of course are being fulfilled!! And I have the confirmation number and date the order was placed and was told by Sears that there is nothing they can do! I contacted both 800 numbers for the customer hotline and for the online order department but of course could not be helped. I also contacted a few of the stores and even went to one of the stores and was told they too could not do anything to help even the store manager on duty would only talk to the associate on the phone and would not come and speak with me. I will try to post a copy of my confirmed order and cancellation email for everyone to see. I know Samsung would be upset to know that one of their vendors is doing this to a customer that wanted their product so bad. Signed, Disappointed and Let Down Galloway, OH
Teressa,
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Trish…
What a disappointing story.
Hopefully your story will have a happy ending.
As a customer you did your role properly… The vendors need to do their part.
If I were Samsung, I would personally send you your product – with something extra thrown in for being a customer of their brand.
If I were Sears, I would use this opportunity as a chance to apologize and recover in a way that will make you loyal for life.
Thanks for your comment! Happy Holidays! – Paul