With today's Internet advertising, tickets and coupons that get mailed to your mailbox and the never-ending chain emails with deals, Black Friday definitely has taken a newer shape from how it initially started in the East Coast in 1966.
"I remember waiting in line outside of Toys 'R' Us to buy our favorite toys with my cousin when we were little," said elementary education major Kelly Morse.
Looking back she is able to recall how Black Friday got wilder and crazier by the year, even telling of how her mother was pulled back by her collar by a frantic Black Friday Shopper while shopping at Best-Buy.
Has anything changed since past years? Are there any patterns in the products Black Friday shoppers value so much, that they wait, some even camp, outside of stores for hours in the freezing cold weather? All these seem like very sensible questions to ask regarding what has now become a business and economic phenomenon in North America.
Given the current status of the U.S economy, many renowned resources predicted that Black Friday sales will drop significantly this year as opposed to last year. Reuters predicted this year's sales would decrease in five percent compared to that of 2008. Also according to Reuters, the three-day weekend is very crucial to most retailers, given that these three days officially kick-off the Christmas shopping season, during which the sales made can add up to about 40 percent of a store's annual income. This year, Black Friday was going to be another victim of the cascading downward spiral the economy was taking.
The Conference Board released a survey this month regarding Black Friday sales and seasonal holiday shopping. It predicted a surprising drop of 43 percent regarding individual expenditure during the holiday shopping season this year from what was predicted earlier in the Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF). The average American household budget for holiday shopping was predicted to be $683, but the Conference Board's pre-Black Friday survey suggested a jaw-dropping $390 per household. These reports clearly suggested a very poor season for retailers all over the country.
However, this year's post-Black Friday statistics weren't as spirit-dampening as they were predicted to be. According to The Wall Street Journal, this year's sales added up to $10.66 billion on Black Friday, an increase of 0.5 percent since 2008. It also reported that most shoppers preferred to shop at home, since sales made online were significantly high. In a different report that referred to the National Retail Federation reports, The Wall Street Journal said the sales made in stores and online were higher, but the average spending per person has dropped since last year.
According to most Internet-based economic analysts, and contrary to most retailers' expectations, many consumers purchased lower-priced, smaller electronic goods like Netbooks, digital cameras and small flat-screen TVs.
"This is not a year where wallets are expanding, there will be winners and losers this season in retail, and the differences will be pronounced," said Best Buy's chief executive.
It is safe to assume that this year's statistics for holiday shopping provided the retailers and shoppers countrywide a mixed bag of positives and negatives, but they weren't as completely dreadful as they were expected to be.
Some predictions that did come true were the trends expected to be seen amongst the most widely purchased items. Most analysts predicted the Wii game system to be the coveted item for the season. It was among the top products purchased during Black Friday. Others included the likes of the PS3 game system by Sony, Microsoft's X-Box 360 and the aforementioned Netbooks and digital cameras.
Though it seems gaming systems could have possibly made the most profit for retailers around the country, financial reports state otherwise. Jesse Divich, a video-game analyst from the research firm Electronic Entertainment Design & Research said "October unfortunately is a good predictor of what's going to happen in November and December," referring to the poor sales of gaming products in October. Even with the introduction of games such as "The Beatles: Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero 5," videogame sales dropped 19 percent in October, and this seem to have been the case regarding the sales of video-games during Black Friday as well.
As with electronic goods, other types of retail products seemed to have experienced these trends too.
So as the dark shadow of a poor economy hovers over consumer-confidence and profitable sales, both buyers and sellers are to look for somewhat of an equilibrium of profits and losses.
Mithila Mangedarage is a Reporter staff writer
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