As a retail manager who has been in the buisness for 28 years, I noticed some different shopping trends during " Black Friday " and the weekend that followed.
My store produced $ 27,000.00 in sales on Black Friday compared to $32,000.00 last year. We had only 41 customers waiting outside before opening compared to 63 last year. The reports that I received from customers about their shopping experiences with other retailers was pretty much the same. Most of the other retailers (including Wal-Mart ) wern't as busy as last year. In fact, I noticed that the traffick on the roads wasn't as heavy as last year.
Saturday was a very different story. We produced $ 22,000.00 in sales compared to $ 16,000.00 last year, so we made up for the sales decrease that we experienced on Black Friday. This was the first time in my career that I've seen that kind of balance in sales between Black Friday and the following Saturday. We have also produced very healthy sales increases on every day since.
It seems to me that customers have grown weary of standing in line at 4:00 am waiting for those *Early Bird * specials only to find that they are sold out when they finally get in.
What do you think ?
How was your shopping experience on Black Friday and the days that followed ?
Are you tired of waiting in line only to find that the " Early Bird " specials are sold out when you get in?
Retailers, what do you think?
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Comments: 30
yes, i live in a big city, i live right in the heart of chicago...alot of people here..and yep we had over 200 people wait inline at best buy, the line started by the front door, ran along the side of the building all the way to the back..it was crazy..lol!! cold night here, but we'll worth the wait...we got laptops for $250 each and got desktops computers complete with accessories including printers for $179 each...we saved alot of money and got things we really needed to replace in the house as my other desktop was 6 years old and on it's last leg...
The company that I work for has developed a new website, and you have to log on and create an account with your e-mail address to view the deals.
BTW, I stayed ther for 2 weeks back in '92 for training with the company I worked for at that time, and I just loved Chicago!
I've worked retail as well in management and I'm much happier being on the other side now...LOL
I left the house at 4:15 a.m. knowing the early bird deals started at 5 a.m. at a particular store. Parking was a madhouse. There was 2 lines for the store: electronics and everything else. Although, they were selling 20 inch LCD tv's for $80 but put them in the everything else aisle. I stood in the electronics aisle which went from back to front of the store and 1/2 way across.
I managed to get the GPS system my DH wanted for $99 and a Phillips 6 gig MP3 player for my son for $99.
I also went shopping Saturday to the stores that had 2 days sales, only to discover that everything I wanted was already sold out :(
I remember that they dyed the Chicago river green around St Patrick's Day. I also went to the top of the Sears Tower. Simply amazing ! The World's fastest elevator!
Kimberly...About the same here. The good buys were gone early, but our sales overall were better on the days that followed Black Friday.
I sincerely hope that the Black Friday phenomenon gives way to a more balanced, spread-the-pain kind of shopping experience. Cyber Monday has its own drawbacks, in my mind, but at least it has a less tangible impact on my day-to-day existence. I used to be a "bleeding edge" consumer of any new technology... but I've learned to temper that need after being burned by several innovations such as Mini-Disc Players and computers with the latest video graphics and dynamic-sound-enchancement card technologies which will be available for roughly half as much six months later. I'm not yet a luddite, but I'm starting to appreciate the things that are more constant in life, like good music (regardless of the format in which it's recorded), good books, good coffee, and good friends. Thankfully, they're all available no matter what the season.
p.s. Timothy, how can you have 28 years of retail experience? I figured you were in your twenties yo' own bad self. (Yes, I'm pathetic when I try to use hip lingo...)
Bad times comin'!
I have the next two days off, and I plan to slep thru both of them ! LOL
The high ticket goods aren't selling very well at the store where I work, and my company has already issued markdowns on some of those goods and I expect more in the near future.
What I have noticed so far this month is that the low ticket items, say items under 20 bucks, are selling very well and thus we are having very healthy sales increases.
However the high ticket goods are just sitting there tying up a lot of inventory dollars. If other retailers are experiencing the same, look for some GREAT deals in the near future.
They were planned up so high because we merged with a competitor, and assumed we'd be getting a portion of their customers shopping that day.
Last year I braved Wal-Mart for morning specials before going into work (they opened at 5 and I didn't have to be at work until 8). Luckily, I was going after DVD's (new releases were on sale for either $3 or $5, something crazy like that) which wasn't as popular as some of the bigger ticket items. But it was still a mad house. I don't think I'll be shopping Black Friday anymore... unless I'm already there working it.