FRESNO, Calif. — The always-hectic Black Friday could be
even more frantic this year.
Cash-strapped shoppers are eager to save money. Retailers
are desperate to bring it in. And this year’s traditional
day-after-Thanksgiving kickoff to the holiday shopping season is starting
earlier than ever.
Shopper loyalty means little this year, because people have
a limited amount of money to spend.
“Everything takes a back seat to price this year,”
said National Retail Federation spokeswoman Kathy Grannis. “There will be never-before-seen
deals this Friday as retailers compete with every other retailer.”
Although Black Friday is traditionally not the biggest
shopping day of the year — that honor usually goes to the Saturday before
Christmas — the number of people who plan to start their holiday shopping on
that day this year is up by 6 percent over last year, according to the
International Council of Shopping Centers.
And since recession-battered shoppers have restrained their
spending throughout the year, “there’s a good chance consumers have a
little bit of pent-up demand and are eager to head into Black Friday,”
Grannis said.
But all that enthusiasm won’t necessarily translate into
more dollars spent.
Two-thirds of shoppers surveyed by Ohio-based BIGresearch
say the economy has affected their holiday plans. All shoppers are expected to
spend 3.2 percent less this year, down to an average of $682.74.
In the battle to get at those dollars first, some retailers,
including Target and Toys “R” Us, are opening earlier this year at
selected locations.
And all Wal-Mart stores will stay open all Thursday night —
normally only the Supercenters keep those hours — with Black Friday deals
beginning at 5 a.m. Friday morning.
Some retailers also are changing when they release their
Black Friday deals.
In years past, they tried to keep sales secret until
Thanksgiving Day ads, only to have them leaked through sites like
http://www.BlackFriday.info.
This year, some retailers are pre-empting those sites. They
are posting the day’s discounts on their Web sites early. Lowe’s have been
posted for days, and Kohl’s was expected to post its deals Sunday.
Many stores also have broken tradition by offering Black
Friday discounts before Friday.
Sears began its “Black Friday Now” deals the
Saturday after Halloween. Weekly ads promote deals like 50 percent off tool
sets offered only between 7 a.m. and noon on Saturdays, said Susan Johnson,
general manager of the Sears in Sierra Vista, Calif.
“We’ve had people in at seven o’clock in the morning
looking for those items,” she said. “For a normal Saturday morning,
it’s a good crowd.”
The retailer also offers a “deal of the day” in
store and online, and it’s catching on with consumers.
Target, Best Buy and Kmart — which has had “Better than
Black Friday” sales on recent Fridays — and others are offering more sales
early.
Wal-Mart expanded its 10 toys for $10 program from last year
to 100 toys in October. And Wal-Mart, Amazon.com and Target have repeatedly
outdone each other dropping prices on books since late October.
The intense competition stems from a sales season that is
predicted to be gloomy. Holiday shopping season sales totals are expected to be
similar to last year’s totals, with varying forecasts ranging from a 1 percent
decline to a 2 percent increase. And last year was no banner year either; sales
were done more than 3 percent from the year before.
“There’s so much competition out there that retailers
have to constantly try and win over new shoppers,” said Grannis.
They are walking a fine line, however.
Retailers don’t want a repeat of last year, in which they
slashed prices to drive sales, but hurt their bottom lines.
So this year they’ve limited the amount of merchandise they
ordered to avoid making steep price cuts. The volume of imported products
shipped in through the country’s ports — much of it sold as gifts in stores —
is estimated to be as low as 2003 levels, according to the NRF, which tracks
port traffic in conjunction with financial forecasting company IHS Global
Insight.
The special deals on Black Friday are usually available in
limited numbers.
But shoppers throughout the rest of the holiday season are
likely to find stores out of certain items if they wait too long hoping for
prices to drop, said Malachy Kavanagh, a spokesman with the International
Council of Shopping Centers.
“The consumer has been conditioned to play a game of
chicken with the retailer: Who is going to be blink first?” he said.
“If you want to a get a must-have item, you’ve got to get out there early,
because they will run out.”
Shortages of popular items were already happening last week.
Zhu Zhu Pets — interactive hamsters that make noise and scurry through various
rooms sold as accessories — are flying off shelves the minute they’re stocked,
said Chris Palmer, spokesman for the Target store at River Park in Fresno,
Calif.
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
