Black Friday is Here! (Sort of)
By Paul Gagnon - Director, North American TV Research, DisplaySearch
Walmart continues a tradition that started several years ago. Starting this Saturday at 8:00 am, Walmart will offer Black Friday level deals on a handful of consumer electronics, including a pair of TVs. The deals are pretty much in line with what we’d expect during Black Friday. You can see ad with some of this pricing below. I jumped on a similar promotion in 2007 and picked up a Toshiba HD DVD player for $99, which was stellar for the time. Too bad I placed my bet with the losing side of the high definition DVD war.
Why are they doing this? Several reasons come to mind. First, it gives Walmart a chance to establish serious Black Friday credibility early, which could help attendance that day. Second, there are little or no competitors vying for the same shoppers; they’ve got the floor to themselves, so to speak. Finally, it’s a chance to clear some sluggishly performing inventory prior to the arrival in store of high volume Black Friday deals. I’m not saying these particular models are poor sellers, but 40″+ models haven’t been selling as robustly in recent months as 32″ and under sizes, so there could be some lingering inventory. Also of note was the lack of value-priced brands in the ad, like Vizio or Sanyo. Instead, Panasonic and Sharp are featured. Both charge a little more for their products, so the perceived value of the promotion is probably greater.
In any event, the deals are good (especially for the Xbox!), and there are likely to be some lines early on Saturday morning. Early holiday sales are probably here to stay. Now if only we can do something about people putting up their Christmas decorations in October…
Figure 1: Walmart.com Ad for November 7
We will continue to report on holiday promotion activities along with our NPD colleagues; for a post-Black Friday analysis, register for our webinar.
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Good points about the motivation, Paul. I think there’s one more factor. The retailers probably believe that there’s only so much money in the pool to be spent by consumers this season. Any dollar that they can siphon now rather than wait until December and fight with everyone else for a sale is a dollar in their pocket and a little less inventory to carry into the new year. Note that Walmart isn’t the only one trying this, however. For example, Sears is also running time-limited specials already as well.
Maybe it’s time to start calling it “Black November”.
Alfred
P.S. Don’t feel bad; I picked the HD DVD, too.
Such excercise have been practised by large number of retailer’s around the world, specially to stimulate the seasonal demand and make the consumer grab onto the opportunity of buying goods at cheaper rates than normal retail prices.
I like the idea propogated by Mr. Alfred of calling it ” black Nov”
Rohit @ Dubai