The greatest high when it comes to shopping is managing to find that elusive ‘exactly what I was looking for’, while it’s on sale. Annual milestones like Black Friday are, on the surface, the best time to hit the streets and cash in. But buyer beware. What you end up with may not have been worth the trouble.
Why stay home on black Friday
You only have to speak with any retailer for a few seconds to find out that their business is pretty much famine for nine months out of twelve. Black Friday is the day they break even and it happens at the end of November! With the economy doing a downward spiral and so much of North American GDP dependent on the non-industrial sector it is really little wonder that things are in such bad shape. Nobody can afford to not support stores until black Friday roles around and then pretty much pilfer for personal savings at the expense of the overall economy.
In fact, ‘scrooging’ on Black Friday is all the more reason for things to cost more and more the rest of the year. Furthermore, if stores rely on deep discounts to clear out inventory on Black Friday, and aren’t making all that much the rest of the time, it is only a matter of time before they will have to close their doors.
This is all the more true for smaller retailers, whose places will likely be absorbed by large box store operations. Perhaps you too have noticed that selection is pretty limited out there, and for good reason. A small group of buyers are all going to the same shows and purchasing for various retail outlets all owned by the same conglomerates. Perhaps the science fiction movies where everybody walks around in uniforms as a symbol of an advanced society were really commenting on just this point.
Cyber Monday
Now the reverse point to all this is rhetoric is that stores really can’t afford to offer great discounts because they are starving for nine or more months out of the year. So, they put out superficial sales to get people out and then try to off-load regular prices. But, in preparation for an ever-unpredictable bunch inventory levels are jacked up. That’s why if you are really looking for some great deals, consider Cyber Monday.
In 2011, Cyber Monday reached across the border and what a coming out party! Online retailers were offering fantastic sales. Many were unexpected, well-worth the effort to check your inbox, and lasted all of 24-hours. In some cases the sales lasted until the 4th of December but in most cases, it was a good day to just book the day off work and plant down in fuzzy slippers for the rest of the day. The best part is that the timing couldn’t be better. Delivery on just about anything you could dream of ordering would still be done by Christmas.
Black Friday, like most conventionally mandated annual commercial milestones is turning into a bit of a farce. Hopefully Cyber Monday will still be worth the effort for the next few years.