Black Friday Report

As promised, I said that I'd give a report about how Black Friday 2009 turned out. I kind of thought that people would spend less due to the recession, but it was not the case as this
Yahoo article points out. Data from Martin's, a Chicago based research firm, indicates that spending on Black Friday increased from $10.3 billion on Black Friday 2008 to $10.6 billion, a small increase of 0.5 %.


It also appears that some websites, which offered "Black Friday" specials on their websites experienced a lot of traffic from shoppers looking to save money without stepping into the chilly weather. I also learned that Black Friday is referred to as 'Black' because "the black" means profitablity. As for a reason behind the increase in sales, I think that a lot of people are allured by the sales whether or not they can afford to spend. There is definitely still the allure of what appears to be a good deal and the rush of waking up before sunrise to make off with a "steal of a deal." Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Black Friday; Wal-Mart vs. Amazon

With Black Friday just two days away, I came across an article about the Wal-Mart/Amazon rivalry that has emerged on line. It makes sense but I had no idea how much Wal-Mart was ahead of Amazon in terms of sales dollars: $405 billion in sales compared to Amazon's $20 billion in sales (last year's totals). It will be interesting to see how there price war continues, and if Amazon will be able to match Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart prides itself on having the absolute lowest prices, but will Wal-Mart.com stay true to that goal. The two giants have their unique competitive advantages: Wal-Mart's is offline, which avoids shipping costs and Amazon provides the convenience of not having to leave the computer.

I think Amazon will reduce its sales gap with Wal-Mart. Living in a convenience and technology based society, means that more people are around their computers than willing to make the cross-town trip to Wal-Mart. While Wal-Mart may have lower prices, affluent people would rather purchase a produce online. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how Black Friday is different this year, due to the recession. Happy early Thanksgiving!