Black Friday Is Morphing Into Black Week

Margaret Hartmann at New York Magazine postulates that Black Friday is morphing into Black Weekend:

According to the research firm ShopperTrak, sales on Friday were down 1.8 percent from last year, which is the first dip since the recession hit in 2008. However, that still amounts to a staggering $11.2 billion in sales, and the drop wasn’t caused by Americans reeling in their spending. With retailers starting sales on Thanksgiving this year and extending deals through so-called Cyber Monday, the busiest shopping day of the year has been split into many pieces, and like a consumerism-crazed starfish, it’s now poised to respawn into a multi-day event.

I agree with her observation with one slight caveat. Black Friday is not only extending from Friday through Cyber Monday, but it is also spilling forward onto Thanksgiving Thursday and into the preceding Wednesday too. In other words, the shopping spree is going to start at around 5 pm the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and continue right on through Cyber Monday.

That’s an awfully long time to have a “1-day” sale. And since a LOT of tech gear is sold during that period of time and since a lot of the buying is now being done online, this developing phenomenon is well worth watching.

Published by

John Kirk

John R. Kirk is a recovering attorney. He has also worked as a financial advisor and a business coach. His love affair with computing started with his purchase of the original Mac in 1985. His primary interest is the field of personal computing (which includes phones, tablets, notebooks and desktops) and his primary focus is on long-term business strategies: What makes a company unique; How do those unique qualities aid or inhibit the success of the company; and why don’t (or can’t) other companies adopt the successful attributes of their competitors?

699 thoughts on “Black Friday Is Morphing Into Black Week”

  1. FWIW, my brother told me he saw a TV at WalMart on sale the week before Thanksgiving for less than they were advertising it for on Black Friday.

    Me, I stayed home and away from e-commerce sites last Friday.

    Reply

    1. The actual value of Black Friday sales is certainly open to question. But there’s no arguing with the fact that Black Friday sales have caught the public’s attention and are driving consumer purchases.

      Reply

Leave a Reply to FalKirk Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *