5 myths about Black Friday

Canada Goose Online For canada goose coats some, the thought of grabbing the best bargains of the year can set the pulse racing; for others, the notion that the day after our national Thanksgiving should be dedicated to shopping is offensive. We can’t agree on how the day got its name, much less what it means for retail or for our culture. Here are five widely held beliefs Canada Goose Parka about Black Friday, and why they need to go away. Canada Goose Online

canada goose coats on sale Myth No. 1 canada goose coats on sale

About half of Americans shopped the weekend of Black Friday last year; in one survey, a third of consumers said they shop Black Friday to buy expensive items at canada goose clearance sale a discount, and another third called Canada Goose Jackets it an opportunity to find deals not available any other time of the year.

canada goose clearance sale It’s true that some items can be found for Canada Goose Outlet less on Black Friday than any other day. Ana Serafin Smith of the National Retail Federation says customers will rarely see washers, dryers and big screen TVs so heavily Canada Goose online discounted. But the deals definitely do not extend to all merchandise. Companies use the “loss leader” approach on Black Friday selling a few particular items at a loss to get people into the store on this day. “You buy one cheap item, and then you buy five items you don’t need at full price,” says Allen Adamson of New York University’s Stern School of Business. Adamson adds that shoppers often wrongly assume that everything is on sale. canada goose clearance sale

canada goose Retailers deploy tactics that can make Black Friday discounts seem better than they are: slightly increasing the canada goose regular price of an item in the days before the sale, for example, or selling lower quality versions of an item, such as a television, made specifically for Black Friday. canada goose

uk canada goose outlet Myth No. 2 uk canada goose outlet

Canada Goose online Black Friday is the best day of the year for businesses. Canada Goose online

With headlines proclaiming “Retailers hail Black Friday canada goose outlet weekend as best ever” and “All Hail Black Friday: The Business Behind the Biggest Shopping Day of the Year,” it’s easy to believe the day’s revenue is the highest of the year for companies. One widely held origin story about the name “Black Friday” is that it’s the day that retailers see finances move out of the red and into the black.

But typically, the last Saturday before Christmas, known in the business as Super Saturday, is the record setting day for retail sales. Retailers have adopted identical practices for Black Friday, such as opening early, which has diluted their effectiveness. “They have to do it, to stay even canada goose deals with competitors,” Adamson says, “but it’s not going to get them ahead. It’s hard to win on Black Friday as a retailer. What you hope to do is not lose customers or sales.” Smith summed it up this way: “Black Friday may have been the biggest day for revenue years ago, but not anymore.”

canada goose uk outlet Myth No. 3 canada goose uk outlet

Customers resort to brawling to get the best merchandise.

Canada Goose Parka A quick Internet search yields countless videos and slideshows of “the worst Black Friday brawls in history,” as customers claw at one another for video games and refrigerators. One shopper offered a defense of the fights to a Houston news outlet after four customers tussled over a flat screen TV at a Walmart: canada goose clearance “They are just trying to save some money.” Canada Goose Parka

These Black Friday brawls, though, often have nothing to do with getting a deal, with getting the last piece of merchandise or with anything about Black Friday. Despite being described Canada Goose sale by the New York Post as “shoppers turned violent amid the annual buying frenzy,” two teenage girls who exchanged blows at a Buckle store in a Colorado mall were not fighting over merchandise, police said, but a personal matter. The newspaper went on to describe several shooting and stabbing incidents which all took place in mall parking lots.

Canada Goose sale One reason customers aren’t fighting in large numbers over merchandise is that stores generally have plenty of stock to go around. “The possibility of a retailer running out of an item like a big screen TV is usually slim to none,” Smith says. If it does happen, they give rain checks, she says. In addition, the majority of retailers have warehouse distribution centers where they store additional products, and they can get more items quickly. Canada Goose sale

buy canada goose jacket cheap Myth No. 4 buy canada goose jacket cheap

cheap canada goose uk Many shoppers still line up before dawn for deals. cheap canada goose uk

Another staple of Black Friday in the popular imagination and in local news reports: the early risers. this year. “The doorbuster deal has become a day after Thanksgiving tradition,” according to How Stuff Works. “People wait in line for hours and hours to be the first in the store so they can cheap Canada Goose snap up that $1,000 TV at 50 percent off.”

Although pre dawn shoppers will always be a TV news favorite, they are being eclipsed by shoppers who show up even earlier: the day before. More stores opening on Thanksgiving are slowing the early bird race to the stores on Black Friday. or later. to get to stores. Everyone else is sleeping in.

uk canada goose Myth No. 5 uk canada goose

canada goose uk black friday The web is killing Black Friday’s brick and mortar sales. canada goose uk black friday

“Black Friday is dying in the age of Amazon,” Business Insider declares, going on to quote a retail analyst who says “the whole idea and concept of Black Friday deals in store will buy canada goose jacket cheap diminish over time.” Indeed, 99million people shopped in stores on Thanksgiving weekend in 2016, compared to 108million who shopped online. As the number of shoppers setting foot in stores gooseoutletvip slips, online sales are on the rise, climbing from $3.34billion in 2016 to $5billion last year.

But brick and mortar stores are far from dead. In a Bisnow survey on the future of Black buy canada goose jacket Friday for brick and mortar retail, more than 30 experts laid out a more complex picture. They pointed to the enduring appeal of in store shopping on Black Friday: It’s a ritual for many families canada goose coats on sale and friends and a form of entertainment; stores offer ease of return that many online retailers do not; in person shopping delivers an instant gratification that doesn’t translate on the web. In store sales still win in several important categories, including clothing, which makes up more than 50percent of all holiday purchases.

Canada Goose Coats On Sale Customers are used to seeing headlines about closing retail stores. But, as Ed Kennedy of Episerver puts it, “Ecommerce is not to blame for the ‘death of retail,’ because retail canada goose black friday sale is not dead or dying.” What is clear is that the brick and mortar Black Friday shopping experience is changing not disappearing. Canada Goose Coats On Sale

Canada Goose Outlet Five myths is a weekly feature challenging everything you think you know. You can check out previous myths, read more from Outlook or follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter Canada Goose Outlet.