Oh, Black Friday. The notorious day of sweat, tears, and unfortunately, blood. In order to get the fabled rock-bottom prices that are available in stores in the wee hours of the morning the Friday after Thanksgiving, shoppers have camped outside, gotten into fistfights and last year, in Long Island, an unfortunate security guards was trampled to death by a mob. But this article is not about the horror that his behavior reveals about today’s American culture. This article is about whether there is any point at all to participated in Black Friday, to the truly shopping-savvy.
Black Friday.
The answer seems to be more. More and more retailers are offering deals before and after Black Friday, and an increasing number are offering online deals. Traditionally, lower-market retailers have participated in Black Friday, selling older products that they would have to mark the prices down on anyway. But now higher-end retailers like Saks, Barneys, and Nordstrom had started their online sales the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, thus avoiding seeming low-brow while still being able to appeal to customers who, especially in these economic times, are always looking for a deal. And now Cyber Monday has begun to take hold. Based on the idea that people go back to work on Monday and therefore obviously begin shopping online, many retailers offer great deals online after Black Friday. Heck, JC Penny and Staples begin their Cyber Monday deals on Sunday!
So what is the point of this article? The first, most obvious point is that you and your spiked shoes should have stayed home this Friday. But the more important point is that everyone should take note that the world is changing. Traditional business models become obsolete with new technologies, and both producers and consumers who pick up on these changes will benefit. In-store shopping is not only less and less reasonable on Black Friday — any day of the week, convenient websites, sometimes even with free shipping (and free return shipping) make the hassle of wandering through the zoo that is IKEA or Victoria’s Secret less and less appealing. New interactive tools available while e-shopping, including recommendation agents and comparison matrices, simply cannot be matched in person. Businesses are now learning how to become what is called “brick-and-click”, existing both in real life and online. In tough economic times, the ability to become this type of amphibian, I believe, will determine the survival of the retailers.
The CEO Game.
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