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Best Buy apparently has ended weekly sale ads


Brad

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BW (Before Walmart) there was a certain order to the universe.  The department stores cycled through their deals by week and by season.  If it wasn't on sale here, it might be on sale there.  No matter, it would be on sale next week.  Consumers shopped the circulars but overpaid for out-of-favor items.  Walmart changed that.  If it wasn't on sale, get it at Walmart.

 

Most retailers did not know how do deal with this disruption.  They promoted.  They price matched.  They price adjusted.  Many of those retailers are no longer with us.  

 

When I was a kid, I worked for a grocer.  Every week the manager sent us to the competition's store to get a flyer and capture price mismatches.  In real time, he would create specials to level the playing field.  He noticed that people came into the store Sunday morning to get the current sale and the previous sale before we could change the prices.  Mr. Stapleton delayed the markups and created a Sunday morning mega sale.  The store was packed Sunday mornings.

 

Kudos to BB for being as smart as Bob Stapleton.  

 

I scheduled an oil change at my local Ford dealership.  I did this after researching prices and promotions at the oil change specialists.  Ford was $20 less than Jiffy Lube.  When I checked in, I shared this with the service manager.  "I know.  We are competitive.  It's a priority."   

 

Amazon and Walmart will never compete with agile merchants.  They don't have to -- they make plenty crushing the sloths.

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I assume they'll have an actual printed ad for BF but you never know - could be online only.

This is one of my fears (dreads) for all retailers.  Everything is online, everyone releases their own BF ad early. I'm afraid within the next couple years another big tradition aspect of BF will be gone when they all quit printing paper ads.

 

Having said that, I am aware that I contribute to the issue. If I shop at BB on BF, it's going to be online. The store is too crazy for me to bother going there.

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This is one of my fears (dreads) for all retailers.  Everything is online, everyone releases their own BF ad early. I'm afraid within the next couple years another big tradition aspect of BF will be gone when they all quit printing paper ads.

 

Having said that, I am aware that I contribute to the issue. If I shop at BB on BF, it's going to be online. The store is too crazy for me to bother going there.

 

For the most part, it is already gone.  Black Friday loosely covers what we used to refer to as the Holiday Season.  In fact, the days before Black Friday were never part of the Holiday Season.  The best deals are no longer reserved for those who camp out.  With the addition of BF in July and Prime Days, there is not much special about the day after Thanksgiving.

 

Except that it IS the day after Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the season and don't worry about the sales.  

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This is one of my fears (dreads) for all retailers.  Everything is online, everyone releases their own BF ad early. I'm afraid within the next couple years another big tradition aspect of BF will be gone when they all quit printing paper ads.

 

Having said that, I am aware that I contribute to the issue. If I shop at BB on BF, it's going to be online. The store is too crazy for me to bother going there.

Yes with the advancements with the cell phones and apps I knew this would be coming. I like the fact we would be saving trees but It is something about having that paper in your hands that just outs me over the top. What if your phone dies or you drop it. I will be shopping BB online only as well unless there is a killer doorbuster that is instore only, but even still they only have a few and if I am not first in line it may not be worth it

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I know that at least around here, the Sunday newspaper that used to have 20+ sale ads during the year is down to like 5 or 6. That number inevitably increases as Q4 arrives but it seems that as both newspaper circulation and the number of retail chains still in business diminishes, the printed ad is quickly going away.

 

Retailers are moving their promotions online and through targeted email and (to a lesser extent) direct mail.

 

Glad I saved all those old soon-to-be-extinct Black Friday sale ads from the last 15 years or so.

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For the first time since 2003, I skipped Best Buy and went to Walmart. I had a fantastic time and no camping. Best Buy had split the sales and put lackluster products in the front pages. All the Best buy items could be purchased ahead of Black Friday. I will assume the trend will continue this year.
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It's sad to see them stop weekly ads, but I've noticed they haven't put new flyers out on Flipp for a while, so I guess I was aware already.  I haven't been to a Best Buy in probably 8 years though so I guess it doesn't matter to me much, though I have bought items during Black Friday online from them.

 

To me its funny that Dollar Tree still has ads from time to time.  EVERYTHING'S $1, now look at 4 pages of stuff we sell! At least I can count on Menard's having anywhere between 2-6 ads out a week, so there's that.

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  • 4 weeks later...
The problem with electronic ads in my email is I already get over 100 emails a day, how on earth am I going to notice another sale ad? I don't want to miss important ads. Also, I'm trying to stay off the computer, not spend more time on it!
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