Bill Hanifin
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Like a weary office worker seeking solace from the cubicle by turning a one day holiday into a three day weekend, retailers have effectively turned the single day extravaganza of Black Friday into a weekend-long shopping event.
My curiosity was sparked in the days leading up to Black Friday when my email inbox was filled with “Black Friday” specials from pure-play e-commerce retailers. I was surprised to see the traditional brick and mortar participants in Black Friday being joined by their commerce competitors, among them a myriad of niche e-tailers seeking to win their share of Black Friday spending.
Local merchants were visible too, as they were not about to wait for Small Business Saturday, the local merchant marketing event in its 3rd year sponsored by American Express. Several local merchants pushed out notices of their Friday sales, apparently eager to get a jump on the official “Shop Small” holiday.
Online retailers were far from absent this Cyber Monday, with Amazon, Netflix, Groupon, Living Social, Hotels.com and many more in my immediate view. But the difference this year is that Cyber Monday, the shopping day that used to be the exclusive domain of online retailers, is being led by both multi-channel retailers as well as some brick and mortar players. My inbox today had offers from Apple, Lowe’s, and Sports Authority. While it’s technically correct that each of these retailers were promoting online offers in their Cyber Monday email, it remains that each is predominantly known as a brick and mortar entity.
Earth-shattering news? Maybe not. Indication of an emerging trend in retail? Without doubt.
The amalgamation of three distinct shopping events into one extended sale signals recognition by retailers that shoppers only have so many dollars to spend, no matter how good the deal. When Cyber Monday was first conceived, it was positioned as a bookend event, with online and offline retailers tacitly agreeing to operate within their respective 24 hour periods of discount madness. Amex conceived the Shop Small holiday sandwiched in between to add value to its acquired merchant base, and the feel-good halo it delivered was embraced by retailers and shoppers alike.
Retailers have a sense of urgency to capture holiday spending like never before. Neither e-railers nor local merchants can afford to let Black Friday absorb all of the shopping dollars from its precious customers. Discount strategies work best when you’re early in the game, so no retailer wants to give another a 3 day head start on invading customer wallets.
Some experts question whether the deals offered by some brick and mortar merchants are significantly different from those offered other times of the year. Despite these cautions that consumers can moderate their shopping for the holidays, Black Friday continues to trade on the hope that consumers will trade in logic for the panicky urge to not miss out on a great deal. In the process, the madness of Black Friday continues to pose physical risk to its most ardent fans.
There has to be a better way to stimulate holiday shoppers, but Black Friday is not going away anytime soon. Enough consumers buy in to the offer of deep discounts to make the day a success, and many enjoy the day as a shopping “adventure race”. With the convergence of online, offline, and local merchants into the fray, a better retail strategy might be to offer price, service and convenience year-round to earn customer patronage without having to drop prices by 50%.
If going into the black is the goal, why don’t retailers adopt strategies that keeps them closer to it more than once a year? Consumers might find the result more pleasing, safer, and would enjoy being able to sleep off their Turkey rather than heading to the mall.
