Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, millions of Americans get up early- some camping out overnight- to try to get the best deals at the start of the holiday shopping season. And every year, retail outlets make billions and billions of dollars in profits on Black Friday alone. However, stores often aren't actually lowering prices, but raising them, which leads to the question: 'Why do consumers still shop so much on Black Friday?"
One of the main answers is tradition. For many people, shopping during the Friday after Thanksgiving has been a lifelong tradition, and they see no reason to stop. In my family, all the women go shopping of Black Friday, and they have been for decades. For others, the long weekend is often the only time they have to shop for presents, as December can be an extremely hectic month.
Because of these reasons, all retailers need to do is convince the general public that their sales are greater than anywhere else, since they are virtually guaranteed a viable stream of potential consumers. Many companies do this by offering limited sales: they will heavily advertise a ridiculously low price on an expensive item, but there will only be 5 or 10 at the sale price per store. Yet other companies will offer sales at times when many aren't even up: some companies offer 10% off deals from 4AM-8AM. Still other retailers offer great deals on certain items, but significantly raise the prices on the item's compliment. Yet other stores raise prices way up during the week before Thanksgiving, just so everything in the store can be a certain percent off on Black Friday, even though it is often much higher than the average yearly price. But whatever gimmick retailers decide to use, they certainly rake in the cash of Black Friday every year.
As a cynical person, holidays are mainly utilized to rake in profits. Thanksgiving is an occasion to be together with the family but sadly, what always shows up in the news is the day that is after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. This annual event just shows how we, the consumers, are actually leeches and how we are obsessed with "stuff."
ReplyDeleteDon't most stores offer the same or similar discounts online? I understand that enticing a consumer into the physical store virtually guarantees he or she will buy more than the particular sale item used to do so, but online shopping seems much different. There's less exposure to the store's other products and it's much easier to leave one website for another than it is to drive from one store to another. It would be interesting to see how stores profit from their online deals.
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