By Jennifer Calonia, Go Banking Rates
Black Friday shoppers 2008 from Rocky Mountain News
TV commercials, Black Friday ads and holiday billboards are singing the same tune, as they announce the approach of the busiest shopping day of the year. With up to 140 million people expected to shop over this Thanksgiving weekend, 97 million of them shopping the day after Thanksgiving, shoppers are evidently marching to the beat of retailer’s marketing tactics and flashy Black Friday deals.
This retail event is commonly regarded as the best day to get the year’s hottest items at incredible savings, but in recent years, the commercialized push to drive customers into stores and through checkout lines has produced lackluster discounts on less desirable products.
Black Friday Over the Years
It might be difficult to believe, but the Black Friday phenomenon is far from its infancy. Mark LoCastro, public relations manager of DealNews, identifies marketing as one of the key drivers of this shopping day, similar to the history of De Beers turning diamonds into an engagement symbol.
“Black Friday has morphed into this cultural shopping phenomenon. It is the Super Bowl of shopping,” LoCastro said. “It’s funny how these big organizations are responsible for these cultural norms. They succeeded because Black Friday now is a frenzy and all big retailers bank on this day to put their numbers in the black.”
The day after Thanksgiving has been a part of shoppers’ holiday experience for quite some time, but this undertaking has turned into a financial trap riddled with ways to get customers spending more money and staying in the store longer.
Gimmicks
As consumers pine for more Black Friday deals, circulars are touting free gifts with a purchase, guaranteed doorbusters and competitor price-matching. All these incentives to shop might sound advantageous for those trying to save a buck, but they’re really just creating a flurry over third-tier products at meager sale prices.
For example, the highly coveted 16GB Apple iPad Mini is being marketed in Walmart Black Friday ads at $299 with a bonus $100 gift card thrown in. Read through the fine print, though: This deal only offers a one-hour guaranteed supply on Thanksgiving Day, from 6 to 7 p.m., meaning shoppers will need to spend that much more time standing in line without their turkey and fixings.
Longer Days and Earlier Hours
For years, Black Friday was confined to the day after Thanksgiving; however, as consumer demand heightens and retailers do what they can to remain competitive, the kick-off to the Christmas shopping season has moved earlier and earlier.
Now stores are stretching their sales across multiple days, calling attention to “pre-Black Friday” deals and online exclusives that ramp up shoppers’ interest. In addition to Black Friday sales starting as early as two weeks in advance, the main event has crept into Thanksgiving dinner and even Thanksgiving breakfast.
According to Inlander, retailers like Walmart are scheduled to open their doors on Thursday at 6 p.m., while Toys “R” Us hopes to give eager shoppers a jump on the gift season with a 5 p.m. start on Thanksgiving day.
LoCastro explained that Kmart actually takes the cake when it comes to early-bird Black Friday shopping.
“I want to point out that, yes, Kmart is open at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving, but this is not the first year they have been doing that. They have been open at that time for the past three years,” he said.
He attributes the “Black Friday creep” to the public demand for more discount opportunities.
“If you’re a major retailer, and you know shoppers are going to come out regardless, and your competitor opens up earlier than you, you’re essentially missing out on sales,” he said. “So as a business decision, you almost have to [open earlier].”
Are Black Friday Deals Really Deals?
The roundup of best Black Friday deals available now is a wild card when it comes to the actual value that shoppers receive at the register.
GoBankingRates compared listed prices against their Black Friday ad prices for a number of items in the most popular shopping categories: laptops, HDTVs, and toys and gaming. The findings reveal that some mid-to-high priced items received lower discounts, compared to products that were already marked at a low MSRP.
The Alienware laptop, which is by far the priciest item listed at $1,099, is only marked down to $999 on Black Friday, just a 9 percent discount.
Again, similar pricing behavior is seen in gaming and toy aisles, as the ever-popular Xbox 360 Holiday Bundle offered by Toys “R” Us is not only one of the highest prices among this year’s best deals, but also has a lower percentage off.
If you’re searching for premium-brand HDTVs, Black Friday isn’t the time to buy. In fact, even generic brands like the Seiki 55″ HDTV available at Sears gives buyers a paltry discount of only 2 percent off on Black Friday.
LoCastro explained that making purchases on Black Friday based on the advertised percentage off can be deceiving, however.
“If you go into a store and see a 50 percent-off sticker on a device, how do you know the retailer didn’t jack up the price, and just slap a sticker on it?” he said. “Every store has price consultants — essentially what that means is, ‘what’s the most money [stores] can get for an item.’ So there are a lot of tactics retailers use to make consumers believe they are getting a deal.”
Read the full article by Jennifer Calonia from Go Banking Rates.
