...Karla Young Mr. Carter Macro Economics 28 November, 2011 Black Friday The Friday after Thanksgiving is known as “Black Friday,” a marketing and media phrase used to describe the shopping frenzy that occurs on that one day. Black Friday traditionally has signaled the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In examining the origin of the term “Black Friday,” the earliest known published newsletters which made reference to the term was in 1961. Rick Romell, a reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, wrote that the term “Black Friday” got spun positive, remained little used for more than a decade and then exploded. This one day shopping blowout puts retailers “in the black” profit wise for the year. Bonnie Taylor-Blake, neuroscience researcher at the University of North Carolina suggests that the “Black Friday” tag originated with Police in Philadelphia, who each year faced massive headaches as fans in town for the Army-Navy game combined with swarms of holiday shoppers to create a traffic-clogging mess. The term spread outside of Philadelphia and really gained traction around 2004. The term has now become part of mainstream conversation and is in itself a “holiday.” The question-does a successful Black Friday boost the economy? Some market commentators argue that retail sales for Black Friday have a history of being greatly exaggerated. But even if the 16% increase over last year is accurate, can the US consumer maintain these elevated spending figures...
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...Wal-Mart & Target – 2014 Holiday Season Strategy Retail stores Target and Wal-Mart have tacked holiday season in a different way this year compared to before. In previous years, there has been a trend to bring Black Friday’s discounts earlier in November, however, this year Wal-Mart and Target went beyond all market expectations. Wal-Mart’s strategy for the holiday season is “to offer the best brands, to make shopping experience easier, and to continue providing low prices than competitors to bring joy to their customers”, says Duncan Mac Naughton, Wal-Mart Us Chief Merchandising Officer. For 2014 Holiday season these retail stores have begun the season sales on November 1st, providing Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts from the first week of November all the way till the week before Christmas, stretching the holiday season almost an additional month compared to previous years. Brian Cornell, Target’s Chairman of the Board and CEO, says “Target’s promise is ‘Expect More. Pay Less’, and when we do that, Target is impossible to beat”. Retail stores depend largely on their pricing in order to be competitive and successful in their industry. In order to be able to achieve success, these stores need to implement a pricing strategy that goes in accordance to their mission. In the case of Target and Wal-Mart, their pricing strategy is based on a maximum market share pricing objective. When looking and this retail stores, they possess a huge part of the market and they achieve...
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...Thanksgiving Day, which is always the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, is a week from today (today is Nov. 15, 2012; Thanksgiving Day is Nov. 22 this year). The day after Thanksgiving Day is called “Black Friday” in the business world. “Black Friday” is the unofficial beginning of the Christmas and Hanukkah shopping season. The word “black” in “Black Friday” is an accounting term meaning “profit.” Businesses that have been operating “in the red” prior to Thanksgiving Day will hopefully be “in the black” as a result of all the shopping and buying that people do during the holiday (Christmas and Hanukkah) season. Until about ten years ago, stores would open on Black Friday at their usual time (9:00 am or whenever). There would be a long line of people waiting to get in, as most people have the day off on Black Friday and want to begin their Christmas shopping or Hanukkah shopping that day or soon thereafter. Beginning about ten years ago, retail stores began to open earlier and earlier on Black Friday in order to gain an advantage over competitors who opened at 9:00 am. Stores began opening at 6:00 am on Black Friday, then, a few years later, would open at 4:00 am on Black Friday. Some began opening at midnight (12:01 am) on Black Friday. The retail chain Target Stores announced that this year (2012) their stores will open at 9:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day (Thurs., Nov 22). Their stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day until9:00 pm, then will open at 9:00 pm. Some...
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...Black Friday: The People and the Craze Kevin Leonel Sonilal COM/156: University Composition and Communication March 16th, 2013 Professor Karen Nowak It is in our human nature to desire goods whether it is for necessity or luxury. Our appetite for shopping dates back hundreds of years to the bazaars and markets of old times. Over the years, our fascination with shopping has increased and evolved. There are more smart and sales-conscious shoppers. As a result, the markets and vendors have evolved in order to accommodate the evolved shopper. It has resulted in the creation of mass markets, industrialization, and cultural attitudes. With the increasing amount of shoppers, and countless markets and vendors, companies are competing to gain shopper interest; they invent new products, create persuasive advertising, and offer sales on current merchandise. For companies, their largest revenue gain comes around the holidays. Therefore, they make big pushes for consumer sales on those designated days. However, a large portion of their revenue comes from one non-holiday, the man-made holiday, Black Friday. On this day, consumers spend more time and money in preparation than they do on their goods. There is a significant change in their attitudes and behavior; they become more competitive and more aggressive. This single day affects both producers and consumers. The combination of aggressive shoppers, sales, and limited quantities can be a recipe for chaos and disaster...
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...Black Friday Madness In the essay “Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization,” the author, Andrew Leonard, makes the argument that, “The out-of-control marketing and consumer insanity” (135) has taken over Thanksgiving and the days following it. Sadly, as consumers, we have forgotten what Thanksgiving is really all about. Marketing businesses have gone overboard brainwashing consumers with advertisements pumping them up to shop on Black Friday and the days that follow. Moreover, marketing businesses have caused the actions we see and hear about on Black Friday such as people being trampled, as consumers rush into stores to shop the sales, and are proof of this insanity. I strongly agree with Leonard’s arguments from “Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization,” that it is time to take back Thanksgiving and end the craziness. First of all, Leonard points out that marketing and consumers have become out of control with all of the Black Friday sales. He gives examples of advertisements that are out of control. For example, “after the perky Stepford-wife shopper sings joyfully about how she’s ‘been in line since yesterday’ and how everybody’s going to Kohl’s at ‘midnight, midnight’ the ad ends with her observing, with a mild air of perturbance, that she ‘can’t get this darn song out of my head.’ Ladies and gentlemen, there’s your winner of the 2011 award for honesty in advertising” (135). This commercial is an attempt to brainwash consumers. He talks about “grown men screaming...
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...over the holiday weekend compared with last year, which I know is troubling to you as it should be. As you requested I will do my best to understand what is causing this decline in sales through what I have learned in a recently taken consumer behavior course. At the beginning of November, consumers (specifically mothers) start looking for holiday steals and deals to combat their juggling lifestyle, working mothers’ attempts to compromise between conflicting cultural ideals of motherhood and professionalism. Unfortunately, every retailer knows this including those who participate in direct selling, which is a multilevel marketing structure that sells a consumer product or service, person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location and home shopping parties, a selling format where a company representative makes a sales presentation to a group of people who gather at the home of a friend or acquaintance. Those companies, who use direct selling and home shopping parties, hire “consultants” who sell holiday gifts for a relatively cheap price, for a commission. Pop-up stores, temporary locations that allow a company to test new brands without a high financial commitment are also becoming popular, which in turn is causing a headache for department stores, such as Kohl’s that do not participate in direct selling, home shopping parties or pop-up stores. Black Friday promotions started a week or more earlier in some cases this year and most major retailers offered Black Friday prices...
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...Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, started based on an accounting term when records were kept in ink with red signifying a loss in profits and black signifying a profit. Retailers generally operate in the red (unprofitable) throughout the year and depend heavily on the holiday season sales to end the year in the black with a profit. While Black Friday is not considered a national holiday, it has been commercialized as such a big deal that employees are given this day off in the hopes of increasing the number of shoppers. Although Black Friday is a tradition for many families, in today's society, Black Friday has become a bad sign for the US. As we witness every line wrapped around a building at 4am and as we see more and more people...
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...Black Friday is the annual shopping holiday that occurs on the Friday following Thanksgiving. It is mostly a shopping ritual to those people living in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Black Friday is a significant day to many retail stores because it is referred to as the start of the Christmas or holiday shopping season. The origin of the popular Black Friday dates back to before 1961, in Philadelphia, where it was formally used to describe the heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic. It was always seen as extremely disruptive to the Philadelphia Police Department and always transpired on the day after Thanksgiving and thus the name Black Friday came about. As the years passed, an alternative reasoning for the title came to be known which denoted that retailers traditionally functioned at a financial loss recognized as, “in the red” from the months January to November. “Black Friday” therefore signifies the point at which retailers finally start to return a profit, “in the black”. Over the years more and more stores have begun opening at extremely early hours to help consumers get a jump-start on the sales. Some retailers have even started the trend of opening up at midnight. The Black Friday craze is tremendously popular, so popular in fact, that many incidents including violence has been seen in some cities in the past. We wanted to research if Black Friday should be considered a ritual. Our research process included secondary and primary sources. Our primary sources were...
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...8:30-11:15 Article Review 3 Black Friday: a term used to describe the day that millions of Americans flock to the stores the day after Thanksgiving to get the best deals for their holiday shopping. This year’s Black Friday however wasn’t as crowded as previous years. “Black Friday just a day this year, no longer a bellwether” is an article that describes how Black Friday 2015 differs from Black Friday in prior years. The article that was published in the New York Times on November 29th was written by Hiroko Tabuchi. Ms. Tabuchi is a writer for The New York Times that mainly focuses on business and technology from Tokyo and Japanese economics. Ms. Tabuchi has been with The New York Times since 2008. She previously worked for The Wall Street Journal and was a reporter for the Tokyo bureau of The Associated Press. The article expresses that technology is the major factor in the shift of Black Friday this year. More people shopped online over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend instead of actually going to stores. In a survey by the National Retail Federation, nearly 102 million people stated that they shopped in stores over the weekend compared to more than 103 million who shopped online. Consumers also planned on spending approximately $80 less this year than last year, during the holiday weekend, $381 in 2014 compared to $300 in 2015. According to data from Adobe, shoppers spent about $7.2 billion online on Thanksgiving and Black Friday and mobile devices making up a third...
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...The history of Black Friday actually begins with kick off of The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, created in 1924. This event ushers in the Holiday shopping season that begins on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Taking a closer look... Let's turn the calendar back to 1939, when the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, moved Thanksgiving back a week to offer retailers more time to sell their products and experience a financial upturn. As the change was announced in October, Roosevelt's plan created a bit of confusion among the public. Consequently, many Americans celebrated the Holiday in its original time and in fact, even ridiculed Roosevelt's Holiday changes by referring to the day as "Franksgiving. " Despite the difficulties...
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...Avoid a black eye on Black Friday Black Friday is the most wonderful time of the year for most people. The Christmas shopping can be done subsequent to a delicious Thanksgiving meal. However, have you ever been elbowed for no reason? Have you ever received a gift for simply entering a store? Have ever been knocked upside the head in a failed attempt to dodge tossed objects? Black Friday is an event of mass hysteria, and yet a much anticipated American tradition. In 1966, Philadelphia Police Department, officially named the day after Thanksgiving Black Friday due to traffic jams and crowding in the downtown stores. Black Friday is very hectic, and if those in attendance for the festivities are not aware of their surrounding they could possibly end up leaving the store on an EMT stretcher. In 2005, The National Retail Federation NRF states that roughly 32% of Americans venture to stores for Black Friday. The discounted products are broadcasted through newspaper and media, which brings widespread attention to various stores that are important to shoppers. In most cases families plan their Thanksgiving gathering to accommodate various stores sale schedules, while other families actually implement the trip to the department stores as merely part of their Thanksgiving...
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...Income inequality damages growth, OECD warns Chris Giles in London Rising income inequality over the past 30 years has damaged growth rates in rich countries by limiting educational opportunities for poor children, according to research by the OECD, the group of mainly rich nations. The finding that higher inequality harms economic performance mirrors the results of a similar study by the International Monetary Fund earlier this year. But the OECD’s analysis goes further because it concentrates on rich countries and attempts to establish the exact cause of inequality’s harmful effects on growth. The OECD said the research showed governments should focus policy on ensuring poorer children gain better education and the supporting people into employment. As inequality has moved higher up the political agenda in rich countries, there has been a flurry of research papers looking into the link between inequality and growth. Clear conclusions have been difficult to achieve because economic theory is ambiguous and the subject has been plagued by research finding spurious associations in the data rather than meaningful causal relationships. Higher inequality can hinder growth by destroying trust in society, hitting investment in skills and reducing demand growth for goods and services from poorer families who tend to spend more of their incomes. But it also provides greater incentives for people to strive to climb the ladder of opportunity and can provide necessary savings to...
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...Grant Still MGMT 320 Section C November 18, 2014 Consumerism: Gotta Buy ‘Em All It is the day after Thanksgiving, known colloquially to Americans as “Black Friday”. Hundreds of thousands of shoppers line up outside of department stores, anxiously waiting to get their hands on the latest of gadgets and gizmos to purchase for families, friends, and loved ones for the holiday season. Many of the retailers in America have offered attractive promotional sales on this day to attract high traffic and volume in their stores. Realizing this, consumers in America who take a part in Black Friday see this as a fight to the death. This “fight to the death” literally came true in the year 2013, as one death and fifteen injuries resulted from the madness of the shopping event, according to BlackFridayDeathCount.com. On the flip side for businesses, Americans spent an average of $407.02 from the Thursday through Sunday that bookends Black Friday, as stated by the National Retail Federation. This topsy-turvy day recognized by a vast majority of American culture has been seen by many as the yearly peak of the country’s ever-increasing trend towards consumerism. Consumerism, the belief that goods give meaning to individuals and their roles in society, has presented itself to Americans in both a positive and negative spirit. On the one hand, consumer spending drives the economy, gives consumers a vast myriad of retailers to choose from, and renders shopping as a social experience. ...
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...[pic] PLASMA TV SETS SALES BREAK RECORDS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON Wide Assortment of Plasma Models from Major Brands Supports Consumer Demand for Ultimate Home Theater Experience New York '' December 13, 2006 '' Industry reports that sales of Plasma television sets are soaring this holiday season affirm that consumers are now seeing at retail the clear advantages of benefits of Plasma for their big screen home entertainment center, according to the Plasma Display Coalition. On Black Friday alone, the NPD Group reports that Plasma experienced a 140 percent increase in unit sales, compared with last year. “Consumers are embracing Plasma in record numbers because they love the life- like picture that a big-screen Plasma HDTV delivers,” said Jim Palumbo, president of the Plasma Display Coalition. “It is evident that the outstanding picture quality, very high contrast and black levels, full range of color reproduction, and wide viewing angle that Plasma offers are resonating with people who are shopping for a new high-definition TV. For consumers considering a television above 40-inches, Plasma is the clear choice for the home entertainment center,” Palumbo added. Inundated with so many HDTV options at retail, consumers are arming themselves with information before heading out to shop. “They know that if they are looking to create the ultimate home theater experience to enjoy movies and sports, then Plasma is the TV of choice,” said Palumbo. In the store, consumers...
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...- Mobile Commerce Daily - http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com - Century 21 prioritizes mobile in significant loyalty program push Posted By Lauren Johnson On January 14, 2014 @ 4:45 am In Featured,Mass merchants, department stores and malls,Multichannel retail support,News,Retail Sectors | No Comments [1] Century 21's mobile site NEW YORK – A Century 21 executive at the NRF 103rd Annual Convention & Expo revealed plans to roll out a pilot program this month that leverages a mobile application and augmented reality as part of a plan to increase loyalty program sign-ups 25 percent to 34 percent this year. The Century 21 executive detailed the department store’s plans to break into mobile this year during the “The Power Couple: Loyalty and Mobile” session, which also included executives from Sephora and Sears. The session was moderated by Leslie Hand, research director at IDC Retail Insights [2] , Framingham, MA. “We have had a loyalty program for over four years, and we are now just going into the mobile space,” said Sandi Riffle, director of process improvement and communications at Century 21 Department Stores, New York. “We are looking at this as if she’s not loyal to us, but that she’s rewarding herself with different perks and benefits across all of our eight stores,” she said. Building up loyalty efforts Century 21 [3] will roll out a pilot mobile app program this month as part of the New York department store’s efforts to ramp up its loyalty program. The app caters...
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