by Robin Fiedler

Perhaps retailers are already aware that Black Friday purchases are all about the sale, the discounted items, and the coupons offered–limited, of course, by consumers’ gift lists and budgets.  And just the word “sale” is not enough. Today, buying involves comparing retailers’ prices and snatching the lowest-discounted-price item.

Marketing Professor Patricia Williams remarks, “As I was driving in to work today [the Monday after Black Friday] I was listening to a report on the radio about retail sales and it sounded like a lot of shoppers were out, but they stopped buying once the early-morning specials on Friday were over.” Williams concludes that the buying stops because consumers still have plenty of time to shop before Christmas and assume prices will drop even more as the days come closer to Christmas.

Another possibility may be that the hot discounted items are sold out by mid-morning.  That is, once the loss leaders and doorbuster items are sold out, shoppers have lost their reason for coming to the store. Either they return home or turn to browsing. As well, with a month left until Christmas, shoppers have no urgent or pressing need to buy.

The National Retail Federation reports that 2008 Black “Friday was clearly the busiest day of the weekend with 73.6 million people hitting stores and websites for doorbuster sales.” Kathy Grannis adds, “Those who shopped on Friday lived by the adage that the early bird catches the worm. The survey found that 23.3 percent of shoppers were at stores by 5 a.m. while more than half (57.6%) were at stores by 9 a.m.”

South Dakota e-Labor claims, “Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year in terms of customer traffic. . . it is not necessarily the biggest day of the year in terms of dollars spent.”

Black Friday sales account for about 10% of total holiday sales while the weekend before Christmas accounts for 30% of holiday sales, according to Dr. Anthony L. Liuzzo, a professor of business and economics. He also notes that “the Saturday before Christmas is usually the busiest shopping day of the year, replacing the day after Thanksgiving,” with “busiest” referring to the number of shoppers, not necessarily the total sales.

“Men Buy, Women Shop” reports on a study about consumer behavior and gender differences in general. “‘Women tend to be more invested in the shopping experience on many dimensions,’ says Robert Price, chief marketing officer at CVS Caremark and a member of the Baker advisory board. ‘Men want to go to Sears, buy a specific tool and get out’.” The difference between man and women is not a big surprise really, but the mission-based male shopping behavior is translating into the Black Friday plans for all shoppers: “Get in, buy what you came for, and get out.”

It’s all in the timing.  Early, early Black Friday morning is when most of the buying takes place. As the day wears on, shoppers turn into browsers.  After all, at the end of Black Friday, we all know we still have three weeks to strategize and hunt.

Footnotes

“Christmas Creep: The Shopping Season Is Longer, but Is It Better?” Knowledge@Wharton: Marketing 3 Mar. 2006. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1330

Grannis, Kathy. “NRF Survey Finds Black Friday Gets Holiday Season Off to Energetic Start.” National Retail Federation. 30 Nov. 2008. http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=610

“Holiday Shopping: What will They Think of Next?” South Dakota Department of Labor. January 2008. http://dol.sd.gov/lmic/lb/lbartjan08_holiday_retail_sales.pdf

Liuzzo, Anthony L. “Holiday Retail Sales Forecast: 2009.” Wilkes University. 3 Aug. 2009. http://www.wilkes.edu/Include/Latest_News/Holiday%20_Retail_Sales_Forecast%20_2009.pdf

“‘Men Buy, Women Shop’: The Sexes Have Different Priorities When Walking Down the Aisles.” Knowledge@Emory13 Dec. 2007. http://knowledge.emory.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1103

COUPON TIME

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