Black Friday in a bad economy (state, England, radio, TV)
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The interesting thing about the black Friday spending is that it is almost all non-essential stuff. Most people aren't waiting in line to buy things like food/gas they are buying video game consoles, big screen TVs, tablet computers, fancy toys, fashionable clothing, etc. all stuff they really don't need.
It really does stand in stark contrast to the mood in threads saying the middle class has disappeared or that we are in year four of the second Great Depression. The suffering masses spending more money on discretionary entertainment items?
Quite odd isn't it ? Foot traffic was up over last year and spending was up over last year. Maybe all this whining we read about is over-exaggerated MSM rhetoric.
So one day out of the year consumers forget all and spend til they drop ?
And malls reporting record crowds since Black Friday was moved to Thanksgiving Thursday 9pm.
And most were younger people buying for themselves.
I guess the recession is not having much of an effect on most of America.
It's spend as usual.
I wonder if those younger people are the younger one's living at home with their parents for free
Why Black Friday is now Black Thursday | NJ.com
Consumer demand for deals has driven Black Friday into Thursday night, say analysts. And shoppers edged the bar higher when they showed up for midnight sales in record numbers last year, according to the National Retail Federation.
To some..shopping is now part of the Thanksgiving "tradition"
Black Friday blurs into Brown Thursday (http://galvestondailynews.com/story/274766 - broken link)
Still, the backlash isn’t strong enough to sway retailers and U.S. consumers who, like George, consider lining up for bargains and sales as much a Turkey Day tradition as pumpkin pie.
Quote:
Consumer demand for deals has driven Black Friday into Thursday night, say analysts. And shoppers edged the bar higher when they showed up for midnight sales in record numbers last year, according to the National Retail Federation
Maybe I'm reading this wrong but it sounds to me like the Stores (Companies) stayed open late, opened early and on the Holiday was to one up on the the competition and it just happened, as the old saying, goes you open they will come, you build it, they will come, you sell it and they will buy it. That competing with each other's competitors is what led to finding out the consumer will come and now it's considered 'demand' by the consumer. Well now I see where it came to my understanding. I did not consider it a demand by the public consumer. Wow how it's something to see how competition can lead people like cattle.
Maybe I'm reading this wrong but it sounds to me like the Stores (Companies) stayed open late, opened early and on the Holiday was to one up on the the competition and it just happened, as the old saying, goes you open they will come, you build it, they will come, you sell it and they will buy it. That competing with each other's competitors is what led to finding out the consumer will come and now it's considered 'demand' by the consumer. Well now I see where it came to my understanding. I did not consider it a demand by the public consumer. Wow how it's something to see how competition can lead people like cattle.
Exactly. But if you just read it and not think about what it's really saying you'd think.."well, consumers want it and stores are giving into consumers" when it's actually the other way around.
be careful. there are animals out there...Im staying home till work.
Heh. I am back already. We got a parking space up front, not too many folks inside, clean aisles with everything displayed neatly and orderly and plenty of checkouts opened with no lines and no waiting and cashiers in a terrific mood. I was so relieved. Unlike the Walmart my parents went to earlier in the day that started off bad when my Dad got out of his car and stepped in a puddle of puke and then said things got even worse from there. It must have been pretty bad at ole Wally World for my Dad to say that. The man freaking loves the place. We have epic battles over Target vs Walmart lol.
people, the only reason there was a % increase, is b.c a lot of people were being very frugal for the last 1-2 years, so the black friday $$$ was down heavily last year, so it really couldn't go down any further... so this 6% gain or whatever is just nonsense. It just means that people have more savings now than they did 1-2 years ago, and were bribed into going shopping this friday for supposedly amazingly perfect deals.
it's like cheering the that the stock market went up 1000 points after being down 6000... cucumbers and bananas I always say
Maybe I'm reading this wrong but it sounds to me like the Stores (Companies) stayed open late, opened early and on the Holiday was to one up on the the competition and it just happened, as the old saying, goes you open they will come, you build it, they will come, you sell it and they will buy it. That competing with each other's competitors is what led to finding out the consumer will come and now it's considered 'demand' by the consumer. Well now I see where it came to my understanding. I did not consider it a demand by the public consumer. Wow how it's something to see how competition can lead people like cattle.
It actually does work out to be consumer demand. This is what businesses do, (successful ones anyway). They have an idea, they think the consumer will like it, they try it. If the feedback is not positive, they try something else. If the feedback IS positive, it has become a demand.
And think of it from the consumer standpoint. So let's say Business Store decides to try opening for Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving Day at 9pm just to see if the consumers would like that.
They do.
But, ya know, next year, they aren't going to do it.
Here's the conversation that would probably take place between two consumers:
GB1 (Greedy Ba**ard): "Dinner's over, let's get shopping!"
GB2: "Are the stores open right now? It's Thanksgiving."
GB1: "They were open last year at 9, why wouldn't they be open this year at 9?"
GB2: "Cool! Let's go!"
GB1 and GB2 get in the car and make the trek to the store. Traffic is everywhere and as they get closer to Business Store, they start to sweat and salivate with anticipation. They arrive to a packed parking lot and a large crowd of angry people. Yep, looks just like every other year they've been out shopping with the masses for Christmas.
They leap out of their car, race to the door to find....it's closed until 3am.
GB1: "WTF!?"
GB2: "I thought you said they were open at 9 last year."
GB1: "They WERE! Why TF aren't they open this year? This is b...s...!"
GB1 and GB2 now join the angry crowd DEMANDING that Business Store be OPEN! They have shopping to do, damnit! How DARE Business Store not listen to their customers! Why, they are going to write a strongly worded letter to the Head Office! They won't stand for this, they are the consumer, give them what they want!
And there's the demand...it's based on expectation.
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