As we have blogged before, Black Friday “deals” are not always what they seem. They are often not the best bargains of the year, but typically a tool to lure consumers to the store. Today (Black Friday 2012) is no different.
Dana Mattioli has a very insightful report in the Wall Street Journal — that does not shine a very favorable light on the Black Friday tactics of some retailers: “Every Black Friday, retailers lure shoppers in the cold, predawn hours to wait in long lines with the promise of one-day-only deals that can’t be beat. And every year, shoppers ask themselves, ‘Is this really worth it?’ The answer, it turns out, often is, ‘No.’ An analysis by pricing research firm Decide Inc. and the Wall Street Journal of this year’s most-touted Black Friday deals found that many of the bargains advertised as ‘doorbusters’ were available at lower prices at other times of the year — sometimes even at the same retailer. Decide has gathered years’ of online price data and uses it to tell subscribers when they should pull the trigger on purchases. It looked at more than 500 doorbusters advertised in Black Friday circulars by big-box and department stores such as Target, Best Buy, and Sears Holdings and found that nearly one-third of the products had been sold at lower prices this year, said Decide Chief Executive Mike Fridgen.”
Click the image for a WSJ video.
Reblogged this on Evans on Marketing.
Luckily I have only been dragged to two Black Friday’s in my lifetime. Both times I was a pawn to hold places in line. I have happened to notice that often times there are better deals found during the time between Christmas and New Years. For a business it is smart to take advantage of the Black Friday excitement although they might not be the best deals they offer all year the same can be said for any other time of the year where they may be promoting products at a hire price than normal. Because of the popularity and insanity that go along with Black Friday I feel that retailers should focus on increased security as much as they focus on luring in customers. There are numerous unfortunate injuries and quite possibly deaths and security is the least they can do to maintain some sort of ethics.
True and LOL
In today’s Wall Street Journal there was a post for Black Friday versus the Cyber Monday. We know that Black Friday is just a way to bring more people in the stores for retailers offering certain offers while you sell high margin products in not such a killing prices. But what is the purpose of making the same for the online retail stores at the time where you already have a competitive advantage versus the bricks and mortars retailers? Is it just sociological to attract more people in your page?
🙂