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Welcome to Black Friday.
Not just because it’s Halloween weekend, but because retailers are starting holiday sales well before the traditional Black Friday sales held starting the Friday after Thanksgiving. It’s called Black Friday because many retailers are so dependent on holiday shopping that this is the season their business runs in the black instead of the red.
Retailers who have had slow sales lately (Wal-Mart Stores, Sears) and those with rising sales (Amazon, Target) are moving the grab market share and shopper dollars early. And shoppers are more savvy – shopping harder and looking for the sales according to the New York Times.
The first “Black Friday Now” deals at Sears will be available beginning Friday and Saturday. Amazon’s electronics department will offer sales on items like Blu-ray players and high-definition TVs on Friday, and Toys “R” Us is putting all the items in its 80-page Christmas toy book on sale on Sunday.
Sherif Mityas, a partner in the retail practice at the consulting firm A. T. Kearney, said:
“Consumers have been trained to buy merchandise only ‘on sale,’ ” . “Given a limited budget, if retailers don’t capture that first or second purchase, they may find themselves with a lot of inventory the week before Christmas and the need for massive discounting to save the holiday.”
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