Q. What's Black Friday?
A. "Black Friday" is the Friday after Thanksgiving and is
often considered the traditional start of the holiday shopping
season.
Accounts differ on the origin of the term. It's commonly held to
have its origin in retailers counting on the crowds of shoppers and
a surge in sales to push them into the "black," or profitability,
for the year.
Q. What's new this year?
A. To begin with, it's hard to say that it's the "start" of
anything. Retailers have pushed the traditional discounts and deals
weeks in advance, slapping the "Black Friday" label on sales as
far back as October.
It's even infiltrated Thanksgiving. Sears stores will open on
the holiday for the first time in the company's history. It's
joining Kmart, also owned by Sears Holdings Corp., in trying to win
over shoppers on Turkey Day.
In addition, Toys R Us is opening 24 hours straight starting at
10 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
Online, a slew of companies including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and
J.C. Penney Co. will dramatically step up deals Thursday for those
who want to eat then shop.
Q. Is Black Friday the busiest shopping day of the year? And how
will stores' increased efforts to pull in shoppers earlier affect
Black Friday's business?
A. Historically, Black Friday hasn't always been the biggest
day. That honor usually fell to the Saturday before Christmas.
But recently, Black Friday has stolen the crown as the tough
economy has made shoppers brave the crowds to nab deals on
big-ticket items.
In fact, ShopperTrak, a research firm that tracks sales and
traffic at more than 70,000 stores, says that Black Friday has been
the top sales day every year but one since it started monitoring
holiday data in 2002; the only exception was in 2004, when the
busiest day was the Saturday before Christmas.
Q. Will going out to stores before dawn net me the best
discounts of the year?
A. Not necessarily. Many of the same deals are available online,
minus the crowds. And stores often have discounts that are just as
tempting throughout the holiday season, and even the day after
Christmas.
Q. How important is Black Friday to retailers? Does Black Friday
and the Thanksgiving weekend predict holiday spending?
A. Thanksgiving weekend may be the traditional start of the
holiday shopping season, but it doesn't necessarily provide a
complete forecast of holiday sales.
In fact, shoppers seem to be procrastinating more every year, so
the fate of the holiday season is increasingly down to the last few
days.
According to a survey by the International Council of Shopping
Centers and Goldman Sachs, shoppers polled said they had completed
23 percent of their holiday buying through last Sunday; that's far
below the 32.7 percent in 2009 and 31.8 percent in 2008.
Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend accounted for 12.3
percent of overall holiday revenue, according to ShopperTrak. Black
Friday made up about half of that.
Still, retailers closely study buying patterns for the weekend
to discern shoppers' mindset. This season could test whether
shoppers are starting to return to pre-recession Christmas
gift-buying patterns.
Last year, sales for the Thanksgiving weekend rose 2.1 percent
from the year before, according to MasterCard Advisors'
SpendingPulse.
For the overall holiday period, which ran from Nov. 1 through
Dec. 24, revenue rose 3.6 percent compared with 2008, which was
disastrous, according to SpendingPulse, which estimates all forms
of payment including cash. Adjusted for an extra shopping day
between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the number was closer to a 1
percent rise.
Q. So what's expected this weekend?
A. ShopperTrak's Martin expects a 3 percent increase in revenue
for the Thanksgiving weekend to about $10.9 billion, from $10.3
billion in the year-ago period.
The research firm predicts a 2 percent gain in customer counts
for both Black Friday and for the entire weekend compared with last
year.
Q. What's the hot toy this year?
A. While some popular toys have emerged such as Blip Toys'
Squinkies and Mattel Inc.'s Sing-a-ma-jigs, the buzz doesn't rise
to the same crescendo that Zhu Zhu Pets hamsters reached last year.
Back then, the mechanical hamsters were tough to find, and
consumers were racing from store to store to grab one.