10 things stores won’t say about Black Friday
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-stores-wont-say-about-black-friday-2012-11-17?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts
Nov. 16, 2012, 5:33 p.m. EST
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By AnnaMaria Andriotis
Reuters
1. “Expect pandemonium at the stores.”
Stores are anticipating a huge turnout — read: crowds — this year.
According to a survey conducted by management consulting firm Accenture,
53% of consumers say they plan to shop on Black Friday, up from 44%
last year. That would reverse three years of declining consumer interest
in the day, based on the company’s previous surveys.
The spike comes as retailers have been ramping up their Black Friday
marketing efforts and rolling out new strategies to lure consumers, says
Jeff Green, an independent retail analyst in Phoenix. To lure
consumers, retailers have been rolling out new strategies: Some stores
are using social media to give shoppers sneak previews of the deals
they’ll offer on Nov. 23. Macy’s, for example, has been posting
announcements on Facebook all month about its Black Friday deals:
half-carat diamond earrings for less than $200, for example, and 40% off
coffeemakers and espresso machines. And to make shopping in the store
easier, the retailer just enhanced its smartphone app, enabling
customers to find Black Friday deals at specific store locations — down
to the department and floor.
To pull in more early birds, some retailers are touting free gift cards
with purchases. Consumers who spend $50 or more on certain products at
Target between 4 a.m. and noon, for instance, will get a $10 store gift
card for future purchases. Wal-Mart is also offering $100 store gift
cards to customers who buy select smartphones beginning at 5 a.m. (while
supplies last, that is).
Of course, these sneak previews of sales and freebies can be a plus for
consumers. By knowing Black Friday prices in advance, shoppers can
decide whether it’s worth holding off until the big day.
This story has been updated. It originally ran on Nov. 18, 2011.
2. “We ruined Thanksgiving.”
Thanks to retailers, Black Friday comes earlier each year. This year,
some stores will roll out their Black Friday deals before the
Thanksgiving dinner table is cleared. Sears, Toys “R” Us and Wal-Mart
deals will kick off at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving night in most locations.
Most Target stores will open at 9 p.m., while Macy’s and Best Buy will
open doors at most locations at midnight. Retail experts say it’s all
meant to build up consumer demand for the day.
Stores bring Black Friday to the Web
As retailers gear up for the traditional Black Friday shop-fest, they are focusing not only on the mobs that line up outside stores but also - and increasingly -- on the masses that stay home to shop online. Shelly Banjo has details on Lunch Break. Photo: Getty Images.
But here’s the problem for shoppers: Those who want to snatch up the
Black Friday doorbusters — super low prices on a limited number of
electronics and other items — will have to be among the first in line,
which means arriving at the store on Thanksgiving morning or at the
latest in the afternoon, says Jon Vincent, spokesman for
BlackFriday.com, which tracks Black Friday deals. So much for giving
thanks.
Retailers say the earlier openings are all about responding to shoppers’
requests. In its Black Friday announcement, Target said it heard from
customers who wanted to start holiday shopping on Thanksgiving night and
that the earlier opening gives them “a more convenient way to create an
after-dinner shopping event.” In a company announcement, Macy’s said
that based on its customers’ response to its first midnight opening last
year, it plans to open at that time again this year.
Still, in some states, Thanksgiving remains off limits for retailers.
Most retail employees in Massachusetts and Maine, for example, are
prohibited from working on Thanksgiving, which means many stores can’t
open on that day.
3. “Black Friday came early.”
Lots of retailers started the Black Friday-like come-ons in early
November this year. The reason is simple. Consumer spending this holiday
season is expected to increase 4.1% over the last holiday season.
Still, that’s down from the 5.6% growth retailers saw last year,
according to the National Retail Federation. With consumers putting a
cap on their budgets, retailers are jockeying to be the first stop
shoppers make, says Jason Baker, a partner with X Team International, a
retail brokerage alliance.
Best Buy hosted a two-day “Shop Early, Save Big” event on Nov. 2 and
Nov. 16 on select consumer electronics. The store says its early bird
specials won’t necessarily be the same on Black Friday. In some cases,
consumers could find similar deals if they shop a few days before Black
Friday. The Gap, for instance, will be offering up to 60% off the store
starting on Nov. 20. The retailer says the offer will be available on
Black Friday, in addition to other deals.
Consumers might be better off shopping before Thanksgiving, especially
if they’re trying to get a TV, computer or other electronics at a
discount, says Vincent. While the prices offered on Black Friday could
be lower, they’ll avoid the long lines and crowds and the possibility of
not finding what they want, he says. Plus, several stores, including
Wal-Mart and Best Buy, have a holiday price-match guarantee (eligible
dates and items, as well as terms, vary by retailer) that offers a
credit or refund to shoppers who find a lower price at another store,
even after they make a purchase.
4. “You should have stayed home.”
Jen Dorman, 28, was on the hunt for a cheap slow cooker. She spent hours
at the stores on Black Friday two years ago looking for a doorbuster
discount. By the time she got to the stores, the model she wanted was
nowhere to be found. “I felt like I’d gone through an obstacle course
and I was wasting all this time,” Dorman says. Tired and annoyed, she
says, she returned home and searched for the appliance online and found
it. What’s more, it was selling at a lower price than the brick and
mortar stores were advertising. Oh, and, she got free shipping too.
As retailers compete for more sales, they’re putting their Black Friday
deals online as well, says Baker. Toys “R” Us shoppers will be able to
get the same deals online as in its stores, says company spokeswoman
Jennifer Albano. Macy’s will also offer many of the same in-store deals
on its site.
That means consumers can avoid the long lines altogether by staying home
and shopping online. And in some cases, they can get those deals early.
Retailers including Kohl’s and Sears will offer some of their Black
Friday deals on their websites days before the big event. Target will
also offer early online access to some deals on Thanksgiving Day.
Black Friday is no longer reserved just for in-store purchases, says
Kathy Grannis, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. But
just because they’re on their computer, consumers shouldn’t think
they’ll avoid the hype. Expect to receive text messages via your
smartphone touting free shipping, discounts and coupons.
5. “Prepare for violence.”
Dan Nainan says he remembers his breaking point. He had been waiting
outside a Best Buy for three hours — before the store opened — to buy a
flat-screen TV that was on sale for 50% off. His chances at scoring one
were decent, he figured, because he was around the 20th person in line.
But as the doors opened, a crowd ran to the doors, cutting the line.
Angered, the shoppers behind him started pushing forward. “It was a mob
scene,” he says. “There was all this pushing and shoving; I thought
someone was going to get trampled.” Erin Bix, a spokeswoman for Best
Buy, says that the safety of its customers and employees is its biggest
priority.
Fortunately, no one was injured, says Nainan. But Black Friday scenes
like this have been occurring during the past few years with deadly
consequences. In 2008, roughly 2,000 shoppers stormed a Wal-Mart in
Valley Stream, N.Y., trampling an employee to death. Since then, the
company has implemented crowd-management techniques, says a Wal-Mart
spokesman.
Separately, in 2010, a shopper was arrested outside a Madison, Wis.,
Toys “R” Us after she allegedly threatened to shoot shoppers who
objected to her cutting the line. The shopper didn’t really have a gun,
says Toys “R” Us spokeswoman Jennifer Albano, but police on the scene
arrested the person. “We continually look for ways to raise the bar on
safety,” Albano adds. At Best Buy, employees give shoppers who are
waiting in line tickets for the doorbuster item they want as much as two
hours before the midnight opening, to help maintain order.
6. “You won’t give us your email address? Say goodbye to some deals.”
In an attempt to get consumers to dust off their rewards cards this
Black Friday, retailers will be offering some deals that are exclusive
to those card holders. Best Buy says it will offer its Reward Zone
Silver cardholders — customers who spend at least $2,500 a year at the
retailer — early access online to its Black Friday doorbusters. “They
will have the opportunity to purchase doorbusters before anyone else,”
says Bix. Separately, Sears “Shop Your Way” rewards members (who can
sign up for free) will be able to access many Black Friday deals on the
store’s site on Nov. 18. And for the first time, Target REDcard debit or
credit card holders will receive exclusive access to 20 deals on its
site on Nov. 21, including discounts on children’s toys and kitchen
appliances.
Retailers say they want to reward their loyal customers. But experts say
stores want to use Black Friday to incentivize more shoppers to sign up
for these cards. The cards help retailers to expand their marketing
base and to collect data on their customers, including whatitems they
tend to buy, says Green. But they’re also offering these deals because
they’re expecting their card members to spend more at their store on
Black Friday than other consumers will.
7. “Don’t expect good quality.”
A flat-screen TV marked down to $300 isn’t necessarily a great deal.
Stores aren’t likely to offer big discounts on the latest, top quality
in-demand electronics on Black Friday, says Green. Retailers know they
can still sell the most coveted models for higher prices. The same holds
true for laptops: While their prices are enticing, $200 to $300 laptops
are usually not the best products, says Vincent: They’re intended
primarily for Web surfing, as opposed to for gaming or watching movies.
And they tend to last roughly three to four years, he says.
But quality isn’t always an issue on Black Friday, says the NRF’s
Grannis. Cashmere sweaters and other high priced clothing items are
often marked down significantly on Black Friday, she says. Prices on
home appliances are also slashed that day. This Black Friday, some
examples include a Samsung front-loading washer and electric dryer, each
selling for 33% off at Best Buy, and a Kenmore Elite top-loading washer
and electric dryer at 50% off at Sears, says BlackFriday.com’s Vincent.
8. “We market to women (but not the best deals).”
Growing up in Houston, Stacy Pursell says, she remembers going to the
stores with her mother at the crack of dawn every Black Friday. They’d
spend most of the day shopping and would come home with heaps of bags.
Pursell, now 40, says she continues the tradition on her own. She tried
to persuade her husband to come along but he’s just not interested.
That’s probably a pretty typical scenario, retail experts say. Women
spend four times more on holiday shopping than men, according to a 2011
study by online marketplace Alibaba.com. As a result, retailers direct
much of their Black Friday marketing toward women, says Green. However,
the products that are marketed directly to women, such as clothing,
handbags and jewelry are less in danger of running out. Rather than
rushing in on Black Friday for such items, consumers might want to hold
off until the last few days of the holiday shopping season, when
retailers typically slash prices on whatever’s left as they try to
unload remaining inventory. Some products sell for 10% to 15% less than
they do on Black Friday, says Jim Bieri, principal at Stokas Bieri, a
retail consulting firm in Detroit.
For other products, if you can wait until after the holidays entirely,
so much the better. Cookware and home accessory prices tend to drop at
the end of December, he says, and bed linens and towels go on sale
during January.
9. “Don’t be fooled by credit card discounts offers.”
This holiday season, nearly 29% of consumers plan to use a credit card
for most of their holiday gift purchases — the highest proportion since
2007, according to the NRF. A good number of those purchases may be made
with store credit cards, as this is the time of year stores push their
own cards hard. Throughout the year, consumers who sign up for a
retailer’s store credit card typically get 10% off on the first purchase
made using that card. But during the end of the year — typically the
last five weeks or so, often starting with Black Friday — they’ll bump
up that discount for opening a new card to 20%, says John Ulzheimer,
president of consumer education at SmartCredit.com, a credit-monitoring
site. “They get very aggressive because they realize many of us will
spend more on retail purchases than we did so far this year,” he says.
Store credit cards, however, are among the worst debts consumers can
carry charging interest rates that are almost always 20% or higher, says
Ulzheimer. In contrast, the average interest rate on credit cards in
general is about 12%, according to the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, store
cards have low credit limits, usually below $1,000. When consumers use
these credit cards, the balance they carry is likely to make up a large
percentage of their credit line, which can lower their credit score.
10. “We’ll try to keep you in the store all day.”
It used to be that shoppers who arrived at stores when they opened on
Black Friday would get first dibs on the best deals on electronics,
appliances and other in-demand items. That’s no longer guaranteed. A
growing number of retailers are introducing a wave of doorbusters that
occur every few hours on the big day — and leading up to it. Wal-Mart
will kick off its specials on toys, gaming, home and apparel at 8 p.m.
on Thanksgiving, followed by specials on brand name electronics at 10
p.m., and another series of discounts at 5 a.m. on items including TVs,
jewelry and tires. And despite opening at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving, Target
will have doorbusters on some electronics, toys and tech gadgets at 4
a.m. the next day.
For shoppers, getting the best deals will come down to strategizing,
says Bieri. They should consider keeping a list of the items they’re
looking for and checking the circulars to see what stores are
discounting them and at what time.
Retailers say they want to make their stores the go-to destination for
Black Friday, and they’d like shoppers to continue coming to the store
throughout the day. Stores tend to staff up for Black Friday, paying
more employees to man the registers and keep the floors stocked, says
Green. But in previous years, many employees have been idle after the
early morning rush when traffic would slow down, he says. By rolling out
a series of doorbusters, they’re hoping to prevent this scenario.
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