Every retailer seems to be nervous as 2008 comes to a close, with no one expecting any sales records to be set this holiday season. In fact, it seems that many retailers are expecting trouble from now to the end 2008, and are having several early “Black Friday” sales in order to mitigate the situation.
Having multiple Black Friday sales is in itself a misnomer. Black Friday (traditionally the Friday after Thanksgiving; usually the busiest shopping day of the year) is named “black Friday” because – for many retail stores – it is line that marks a retailer going from the “red” to the “black,” and the sales for the rest of the year define how profitable the company will be that calendar year. More accurately, these early weekends specials should be called “pre-Black Friday” or “pre-holiday” sales.
WalMart, the leader in discount retail sales, has already had pre-holiday sales. As usual, they have been offering VERY low prices on attractive products like laptop computers, but when you got to the store, they were “out of stock.” (NOTE: I can’t help but wonder how many store employees set aside these best bargains for themselves before the doors even open to the public.)
Online sales are usually a little more reasonable, i.e. more available to the masses. Although you usually won’t find such drastic price cuts as you will with the brick-n-mortar loss leaders (since the available quantities of online goods are usually and essentially “unlimited” — if they weren’t, many online orders would be canceled and the online store’s reputation, spread virally via social networking, would take a big hit!), you can still find some really good deals plus take advantage of incentives such as paying no sales tax or free shipping.
Ritz Camera’s online store is a good example offering what appears to be two months’ of “Black Friday sale” items for the 2008 holiday season. Every Friday from November 7th through November 21st (the actual Black Friday), Ritz is offering special prices on a slew of different merchandise, and the sales will most likely be extended all the way through Christmas Day itself. In addition to special prices on popular digital cameras (always one of the most-requested holiday gifts) they are also offering “free printer” deals, gift cards good for future purchases, and other goodies for shopping early and shopping often. Not specifically a holiday incentive, Ritz always pays your sales tax and offers free shipping on most camera and photography equipment purchases of $100 or more.
Good shopping!
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