We already know that Walmart is pushing back its Black Friday sale start time to 8 p.m. on Thursday (yes, that’s Thanksgiving!), but what about all its competitors? When are those doors going to come banging open to allow the frenzied flow of devoted discounters to get to work? Let’s just say it might be a good idea to scheduled dinner early in the day if you want to partake in the retail madness. [More]
black friday
Walmart Pushes “Black Friday” Back Two More Hours To Thursday “Dessert Hour”
By 11.8.12
You can only push something back so far until its name ceases to have any real meaning. Although if Walmart keeps knocking Black Friday back, it could eventually end up on an actual Friday again. This year the mega retailer is starting its Black Friday specials two hours earlier than the year before, starting at 8 p.m. Thursday during “dessert hour.” [More]
4 Black Friday Myths Debunked
By 10.22.12
Black Friday has grown from the day to kick off the holiday shopping season to a bizzaro holiday of its own, with people celebrating by cutting Thanksgiving dinner short to camp outside of a big box store to clamor for deep discounts that are gone by sunrise. During this evolution, Black Friday has also taken on its own mythology. [More]
Dissident Walmart Workers Threaten Strikes And In-Store Protests On Black Friday
By 10.11.12
Unhappy Walmart employees, backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, are continuing to agitate for reform at the mega-retailer. In a conference call with media outlets yesterday, members of the group OUR Walmart outlined their plans for Black Friday, which include another strike, protests, public awareness campaigns, and flash mobs. Presumably these actions will be for the benefit of customers waiting in line overnight for rock-bottom prices on TVs and blenders. [More]
Waiting In A Long Line For A Popular Product Might Be Annoying But It Could Boost Your Ego
By 10.9.12
After yet another study showed that maybe those Black Friday sales that generate such humongous lines aren’t necessarily the best deals, and the simple fact that ordering a coveted item online can often allow shoppers to skip those eternal queues, why would anyone stand around waiting ever again? Well, maybe because it makes you feel kinda good, say experts. [More]
Another Study Confirms That Black Friday Isn’t Always The Best Day For Deals
By 10.8.12
Black Friday, that day after Thanksgiving which is now associated with people queuing up in the cold and dark to take advantage of marketing buzz words like “doorbuster” and “BOGO,” is always touted as a chance for consumers to save piles of cash at the store, but another study confirms what we’ve been telling you for years: Black Friday isn’t always the best time to buy. [More]
Study: JCPenney, Avon, Gap Websites Are Worst At Responding To Customer E-Mails
By 11.30.11
After years of being trained to dread contacting a company via phone, lest we get trapped in the automated phone tree, customers are turning to e-mail for resolving their customer service issues. And while a new study shows that a majority of the top online retailers did a passable job of replying to customer inquiries, a handful of websites apparently decided to give their e-mail customer service teams some extra time off this holiday season. [More]
Malls Cancel Plans To Track Shoppers' Movements Via Cellphone
By 11.29.11
Remember how two malls annoyed more than a few people by announcing that they would be tracking shoppers’ movements via their cellphone signals? Yeah, well that’s no longer happening — at least for now. [More]
Alleged Walmart Pepper-Sprayer Turns Self In But Won't Talk To Cops
By 11.28.11
By now you’ve likely heard about the Walmart shopper who police originally said used pepper spray to give herself a competitive advantage while bargain hunting on Black Friday. In the days since that incident made national news, the woman believed to be responsible for injuring at least 20 people has turned herself in to the the authorities — but she’s not really giving much of an explanation for why she thought a cloud of pepper spray would be a good idea. [More]
Retailers Rejoice Over Record Black Friday And Weekend Numbers
By 11.28.11
Retailers must be rubbing their hands together in glee, as the numbers from Black Friday and the post-Thanksgiving weekend come rolling in. Records have been broken, many a TV has been purchased and shoppers really went at it. [More]
Here Are Some Cheap Coffee Machines You Can't Buy
By 11.23.11
Here’s a strange phenomenon that reader Jay came across at his local Walmart: Black Friday creep. No, not the race among retailers to see who can open the earliest. Yesterday (Tuesday) Jay picked up a $4 cofeemaker from a shelf full of them, but wasn’t allowed to purchase it. He was told that the item wasn’t for sale. Not that he couldn’t get it at the posted price: he couldn’t buy it at all. [More]
Black Friday Freebies To Make The Day Even More Worth Your While
By 11.22.11
There are bountiful sales to be had on Black Friday, but then there is an even better group of Black Friday bonuses — freebies! As in, paying no money and still getting something. For free. [More]
Malls To Track Shoppers' Movements Via Cellphone Signals This Holiday Season
By 11.22.11
Because you as a shopper are nothing but a lab rat to be tracked, measured, quantified and dissected so that retailers can market to you in a more efficient manner, at least two malls will be using shoppers’ cellphone signals to map out their routes from Sbarro to the Spencer Gifts to Chess King (okay okay… so I haven’t been to the mall in a while). [More]
Stay In Bed: Black Friday May Not Be The Best Time To Buy That TV You Want
By 11.21.11
As we mentioned last week, just because retailers are offering deep discounts on some electronics doesn’t mean there will be savings on the particular item you’re after. Now there is some science to back that up. [More]
Three Black Friday, Cyber Monday Apps To Find The Best Deals
By 11.21.11
If you’re into shivering/standing in lines outside big box stores during the wee hours of the morning, you can make your life just a tad bit easier by utilizing technology to score the very best deal of all the crazy deals out there. [More]
5 Things You Should Know About Black Friday
By 11.18.11
As we mentioned earlier this week, some people have already begun camping out to get in line for this year’s Black Friday sales. But are these people going to actually see any big savings or have they just given in to the annual hype machine surrounding the super shopping day? [More]
Tampa Woman Lines Up 9 Days Early For Best Buy's Black Friday Sale
By 11.17.11
While thousands of people her age are busy camping out in various Occupy movements around the country, a Florida woman decided last night to occupy the sidewalk outside her local Best Buy in order to be the first person to be disappointed by the Black Friday offerings on Nov. 25. [More]
