Is Black Friday becoming meaningless?

[ashley1013]

http://blog.internetnews.com/csaunders/2008/11/is-black-friday-becoming-meani.html

 

Black Friday is nearly upon us. Does it matter?

 

You can't deny that the day after Thanksgiving has lost something of its luster over the past decade. It's not always the highest-volume sales day of the year any longer. (Check out this PDF from the International Council of Shopping Centers if you don't believe me.)

 

You may have already known that. But are you aware of an even greater change in what's taking place in the retail world this year?

 

Retailers are competing even more fiercely online for your business, which is extending the official "deal season" even earlier. Many now don't even sweat the whole "Friday" concept of "Black Friday."

 

For instance, Dell's already pushing Black Friday deals, well in advance of the actual date. Some of its marked-down offerings include a Dell SE178WFP Monitor, a Dell V305 All-In-One Printer, a Western Digital 1 TB My Book Home External Hard Drive and a Sharp 42-inch LC42SB45U 1080p LCD HDTV. Other PC and electronics e-tailers are doing the same: Here's MicroCenter's deals.

 

Kmart is likewise carrying a slew of holiday sales -- including products with "Black Friday Prices" -- on its home page. USB storage figures prominently here.

 

Everyone's getting into the action. Costco's deals (going with the generic "Holiday Savings" theme on these) offer some big savings on GPS units and flat-panel displays.

 

A local favorite here in Manhattan, J&R Electronics, is also starting early with its Black Friday deals on DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. Here's your chance to get a legal copy of 1992's "Sneakers" for $3.99.

 

Meanwhile, ShopNBC's Black Friday deals begins by referring to its listings as "special pre-Black Friday holiday deals and offers," but by mid-page, has abandoned the game entirely and just lumps all the offers under "Black Friday."

 

And then there's Wal-Mart, which last year sought to undercut 'em all with its (wonderfully misnamed) "Secret Sale" that began a full three weeks ahead of Black Friday.

 

This year, the nation's largest retailer is co-opting the horde of sites out there charting Black Friday (and pre-Black Friday) ads, giving some sites permission to post its Black Friday deals in advance. Here's where you can get that HP DeskJet F2210 All-in-One Printer for $29.

 

So, here's the upshot: Black Monday is no longer a day -- now, it's a movement. Thank the current economic malaise for expediting this trend, which ostensibly means a wider window in which consumers can snap up deals. (It also means a wider window during which retailers will be selling discounted merchandise and slashing shipping fees, cutting into their margins... hmm.)

 

As for Black Friday's online step-relative "Cyber Monday" -- never that accurate a term to begin with -- I can't imagine this recent turn of events doing it any favors.

 

We all know that for some time, Cyber Monday not exactly lived up to its hype as the highest-volume e-commerce day of the year. (Has it ever?) Typically, the most online shopping gets done on the Monday or Tuesday about two weeks ahead of Christmas.

 

Officially, the National Retail Federation's Shop.org -- one of the prime movers behind the term, with its own page devoted to upcoming Cyber Monday deals -- admits that it's not, strictly speaking, the actual busiest day for online sales:

 

Cyber Monday is a Shop.org-coined term for the Monday after Thanksgiving, which is seen by many retailers, consumers and the media as the official kick-off to the online holiday shopping season.

 

At any rate, with steep deals extending earlier and earlier, it's clear that retailers aren't betting on the tradition of Black Friday to singlehandedly deliver the customers.

 

And if that trend makes Cyber Monday even less relevant, then that's fine with me: We in the media already have too many vacuous marketing-originated terms to handle and justify using in our copy. Besides, just making sense of them all gets in the way of hopping on all those early Black Friday steals!

 

 

[wx4svr]

"Is BF becoming meaningless?" --- I will answer this simply. No. :)

[bigjimslade]

It has just become more competitive and a full contact sport

[Princess7915]

I think some store use the term "black friday" in their early sales to generate hype for the shoppers that wouldn't dare venture out on actual BF. It's not like this is the first year we've seen "better than BF deals" thrown about two and three weeks early. It's kind of like Macy's - how many Biggest "One Day Sales" can they have in a year? Usually around every holiday!! But they use that over and over to generate excitement.

[sracer]

Yes, I believe that BLACK FRIDAY is becoming meaningless. The dynamics of consumerism have changed dramatically over the last 10 years. I can buy electronics at Black Friday discounts virtually any day of the year (online). Most everything else can be bought within a reasonable price difference. One clear indication is the overuse and misuse of the term "Black Friday" to describe any sale that takes place in November.

 

There will always be a hardcore group of people who will venture out on Black Friday, more out of tradition and habit than anything else.

[Brad]

The term "Black Friday" is meaningless as the stores have ruined it this year with their "pre-BF" sales every week on November. They've flung around the term to try and fool the average consumer into thinking the deals are true Black Friday-quality deals, which in 90% of the cases they aren't.

 

We all know that "Cyber Monday" as well is 90% hype created by the NRF to help sales on that Monday, but for the most part, the deals sites have are less impressive than their BF deals and pretty much the same as what they've had online all year.

 

So just don't be fooled and you'll be fine. The average GDer is smart enough to know what's really a deal and what isn't. We can separate the hype from the truth :)

[khall1971]

My take on it is that it's become muddy somehow. The deals are still pretty impressive, but they're less of a divergence from everyday prices than they used to be. Also, like another person mentioned, there are so many other super duper mega sales the rest of the month and through December that it's hard to maintain focus. My attention is scattered all over the place now with other sales, and trying to decide if they're comparable to BF, etc.

 

For example, when Sears had its Friends & Family VIP night a couple weeks ago, they offered some of their BF ad items--but not all of them--at BF prices, in some cases with an additional discount. I had a house fire this year, so I need to buy major appliances, electronics, DVDs, etc., etc., and I'd planned to stop at Sears on BF. Well, in light of the VIP sale, I had to recalculate for all the big ticket items I'd been planning to buy on BF; since the VIP sale did end up being cheaper, I made some hasty plans to buy a stove, dishwasher and 3 TVs that night. Now I feel like I've got to start scouring around more to see if other sales are going to be even better than BF. BF has almost gotten lost in the shuffle.

 

It's all exhausting, which tends to take the fun out of most anything. It would have been so much easier to get everything on BF, and have just one focal point. I don't do well with scattered.

[Iliveforblckfri]

I sure hope not. I just got off the phone with my niece who is completely across the county from me. (She is in Florida.) She thanked me for teaching her to wake up at 4:00 in the morning the day after Thanksgiving.

 

I am so proud!