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TMCNet: Early doorbuster deals may make Black Friday less frenetic this year [The Indianapolis Star]

[November 23, 2009]

Early doorbuster deals may make Black Friday less frenetic this year [The Indianapolis Star]

(Indianapolis Star (IN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 22--So much for waiting until the Friday after Thanksgiving for holiday sales.

The doorbuster mentality has been with us all November, and it's not going away any time soon.

All month long, retailers have been trying to get a jump on the competition by offering deep holiday discounts weeks earlier than usual. And some plan to stay open on Thanksgiving Day, rather than waiting until the wee hours to start their Black Friday sales.

Black Friday, the day that traditionally marked the start of the holiday shopping season, got its name because it was the day retailers went from being in the red to making a profit for the year.

But this year, discounts have edged earlier and earlier. Sears had a pre-Black Friday sale last weekend. So did J.C. Penney. Best Buy and Home Depot will offer their Black Friday deals online a day early.

Retailers are more aware than ever that they have to get that first dollar spent. Sales for the holidays are expected to decline 2 percent to 3 percent as consumers spend an average of $682.74 each, down from $705.01 last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

If a family has $500 to spend, retailers want to be the first to get that money, because they know budgets are limited, said Jon Vincent, founder of BlackFriday.info, a Web site that posts sale information along with ad scans for the big day.

"People are just looking for deals as quickly as they can get them," he said. "You're seeing pre-Black Friday sales everywhere. All the retailers are trying to one-up one another." At JCPenney's sale last weekend, shoppers found 50 percent off jewelry, bath towels for $3.88 each, and women's sweaters for $12.99.

At Sears, customers who shopped from 7 a.m. to noon on Saturday saw prices marked down as much as 75 percent. There was a 302-piece tool set for $199.99, down from $400, and $50 comforter sets for $29.99.

"It's almost as busy as Black Friday," said Kelly Kaufman, a spokeswoman for Sears.

That's saying something. On Black Friday, as many as 180 million Americans are expected to hit the stores and spend an average of $300 to $400 that day. And the best Black Friday deals are expected to be on electronics. Best Buy already is offering a Dynex 40-inch LCD TV for $499.99. On Friday, Walmart is expected to offer a Sanyo 50-inch plasma TV for $598.

Still, Black Friday is expected to be a bit of a letdown this year, with so many retailers offering early sales and planning on being open on Thanksgiving Day, said Kate King, a marketing instructor with the College of Business at Butler University.

Among them are Walmart, Meijer, Blockbuster, Kmart and Walgreens.

"What happens when you are open 24/7, then you don't have any of that pent-up excitement or demand," King said.

"You lose that sense of urgency where consumers say, 'I've got to be there for the doorbuster at 5 a.m.' " Meijer disagrees. The retailer will be open around the clock on Thanksgiving and said it's what the customers want.

"We pride ourselves in being open 24 hours, 364 days a year," said Frank Guglielmi, spokesman for Meijer. "Be open as much as possible and be as convenient as possible." That works for Sally McElway, who lives in Indianapolis and has almost finished her Christmas shopping. The mother of two said she won't even be out shopping on Black Friday.

"No need to fight the crowds when the deals already have been just as good as they will be that day," she said.

Sales will rule this season, according to a new survey by America's Research Group. Consumers say they will direct their energies to getting bigger bargains and cutting down on the number of gifts they give, said Britt Beemer, chief executive of the research group.

Consumers this year also say they will be influenced by advertising more than ever, with 45.3 percent watching the ads, compared with 39.6 percent in 2008.

Walmart, with 100 toys for $10 each, already has seen the pull that a good deal has on consumers. As a result, it recently announced it will be open all day Thanksgiving.

Blockbuster also is staying open, not only to let families rent a movie, but to buy a gift or two for Christmas.

Early is the way to go this year, said BlackFriday.info's Vincent.

"Retailers are keeping low stock because they aren't really sure of how it's going to be," he said. "If there is a deal out there, you better go for it now, because they may sell out." To see more of The Indianapolis Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.IndyStar.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Indianapolis Star Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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