Nov 20th, 2009
Do Consumers Also Come Out in the Black on Black Friday?
It’s November, so the Black Friday madness has begun. Black Friday, as you know, is the day after American Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the holiday season, and so named because it’s a day retail businesses are supposed to be in the “black” (meaning profitable), versus the “red” (meaning not profitable) they may be a lot of the rest of the year.
And to lure consumers in, there are many, many sales at the year’s lowest prices at stores all over the world. Many of the items are “loss leaders”, meaning that the sellers actually lose money on them, but they may make money from other purchases by the same customers. Just getting people into the store is a huge issue, so loss leaders help there.
And many consumers buy into it, sometimes waiting overnight in line in front of stores; Internet sites like Black Friday Info go wild with leaked ads, and many people take that day off just to go shopping and battle the crowds. There’s also a dark side to Black Friday–last year a worker at WalMart in Long Island, New York was trampled to death by the Black Friday crowd.
I actually happen to be off the day after Thanksgiving, and while I’m interested enough in the Black Friday phenomenon to blog about it, I’m not interested enough to participate. That said, good luck to those of you who decide to venture out–be safe and be polite!
No thank you.
Don’t need or want anything. Cannot stand the idea of crowds…
[...] Do Consumers Also Come Out in the Black on Black Friday [...]
By now most everyone is familiar with the term Black Friday 2009, the big shopping day right after Thanksgiving Day. Retail store, including Walmart, open their doors early and lure shoppers in with incredible bargains on certain merchandise. Like others on Thanksgiving Day, Walmart limits these sales to just a few hours, but the items are usually gone well before the deadline.