Opinion — ‘Tis the season to be jolly and to open your hearts, be kind to your fellow man. That is what we were taught to do in church or by our parents. On Thursday, November 22, 2018, it is Thanksgiving here in the States. It is a day that we are to be thankful for what we have and to reconnect with family. That is what we are supposed to do, and that is what the holiday is for…..right? Right?
Wrong! The whole idea of spending time with the family is for amateurs. After the dinner with the family or whoever is at the dinner table, people are not planning spending quality time with loved ones, but strategies a plan of attack. This attack includes shopping at the local mall/local stores or shopping on the interwebs (yea I know I mispronounced internet). Shoppers are checking the local papers and scour the interweb for all things sale, to see what or who has the best sale available. Shoppers making a list about what stores should be their first stop. This isn’t the time for the weak. The weak can wait in the return lines for exchanges. This is a time to shop or be shopped… something like that. Some can say it almost like a plan military attack on a country, but instead it shoppers going for the sales.
On the website Blackfriday.com, the site gave some interesting stats on shopping during Thanksgiving Day event. The article “Black Friday History and Statistics” mentions that in 2017 shopping season, 49% of shoppers started their shopping plans on Thanksgiving. It continues to say that on Thanksgiving Day, 11% of the shopping starts after 5 p.m. and another 11% after 6 p.m. This is war man or sales!
The idea of stores being closed for Thanksgiving Day is slowly going away, if not already gone. When the idea of stores being open was even implemented, it was met with some resistance. There were customers, articles and groups, publicly protesting the idea of it. The biggest complaint was that employees should spend time with their family. As time passed and most stores tweaking their hours of operations during this big event and the sales got better and better, the whole protest kind of passed in later years. Who cares what people think, this is war.
If the whole Thanksgiving Day shopping wasn’t enough, there is Black Friday and Cyber Monday to deal with as well. But let’s not forget about Small Business Saturday as well. The big guys might have the major days but it is the little guy that makes or breaks the shopping war. So something that started as a daily battle for the best price has moved into a five-day event. These battles need to be won, right? According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), last year the average spending spree was $335.47. NRF mentions that the biggest spenders, for the 5-day sale span, was Millennial (ages 24-34) spending an average of $419.52. So are you can see, there is money to be made by the retailers and deal to be found.
In 2017, it was estimated that approximately 174 million Americans took part in the Black Friday weekend. That is Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. Shoppers were probably made up of men, women, and teenagers all looking for a good deal. Searching the shelves, the internet and the local ads for the best deal they could find and 2018 will not be even easier. So if you are one of those people, searching for that good deal, be careful, thinks smart and you will be able to survive this year war on shopping.