Good Black Friday Sales?

[stevew]

Anyone seen any good ones yet? Or is it still a bit early for the info to be out?

[Anthony]

i think Walmart is gonna have some RIDICULOUS sales. i might actually pick up a laptop for myself. they're sales are gonna be silly.

[MikeVic]

Is Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S.?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Is Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S.?

Yes

[jeff061]

Yes. Unless you really really want to buy something, stay the hell off the streets .

[MikeVic]

Bwahaha. I'm going down to Minnesota to watch the Vikings that weekend. I'll be there Friday. Should be fun times on the streets then???

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by stevew

Anyone seen any good ones yet? Or is it still a bit early for the info to be out?

Probably a little early yet ... wouldn't want to give away any competitive advantage

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Probably a little early yet ... wouldn't want to give away any competitive advantage

Ah, yeah, I forgot that this year they weren't announcing on which day the day after thanksgiving sales were gonna be on.

[CamEdwards]

typically they don't put out the flyers until Thanksgiving day. I too have heard rumblings about Wal-Mart having some killer deals however.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by CamEdwards

I too have heard rumblings about Wal-Mart having some killer deals however.

Wouldn't surprise me in the least, I'm under the impression that they really could use a big-time sales boost right now.

Alas, I will once again miss the event I think of as Psychotic Parking Lot Scramble, foregoing it in favor of returning from 3 days in Charleston, SC (including lunch at historic Middleton Plantation)

[JeeberD]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/01/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Someone may have let the cat out of Wal-Mart's Black Friday bag early -- and it looks like the No. 1 retailer's ready to aggressively battle on prices in the weeks ahead by going very low on some hot products.

And here's what to expect: A Hewlett-Packard Pavilion ze2308wm notebook computer for $398; an HP Photosmart E317 digital camera for $98.88; a Lexmark all-in-one printer, scanner and copier for $39.88; and a 12-cup coffeemaker, food chopper or 2 qt. slow cooker for just $4.24.

Typically Wal-Mart (Research) and other retailers debut the eagerly awaited day-after-Thanksgiving specials a few days in advance. Wal-Mart hasn't officially debuted its Black Friday ads, but the information appears to have been leaked to a few Web sites.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sharon Weber told CNN/Money that she was not aware that the information about the retailer's specific Black Friday sales was already public information. However, Weber said she would refer the matter to her colleagues.

"Last year Wal-Mart didn't discount heavily on Black Friday and the first week after. What happened? Comparable sales fell 3 percent," said Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst with market research firm NPD Group. "This year Wal-Mart's making sure that it's not caught with pants down again. I'm shocked to see how low Wal-Mart is prepared to go this year."

The day after Thanksgiving is dubbed "Black Friday" because it's when retailers are said to finally move out of the red (representing losses) and into the black (profits). It also marks the start of the four-week shopping blitzkrieg leading up to Christmas.

Brad Olson, the founder of Gottadeal.com, a Web site that markets itself as the "official Black Friday deals site," told CNN/Money that he obtained Wal-Mart's Black Friday sales ad last week from "someone close to the production process for the ads."

"That's why I'm confident that these Wal-Mart deals are legitimate," Olson said.

According to Gottadeal.com, which posted the list of Wal-Mart's Black Friday bonanza on blackfriday.gottadeal.com, the retailer is apparently hoping to lure holiday shoppers by slashing prices on consumer electronics, DVDs, home products and toys.

Cohen said he saw the list on the Internet about a week ago and believes it to be legitimate.

"I don't think Wal-Mart intended for it to get out this early because there's an element of surprise involved. It definitely does create a buzz, but it also give its competition time to respond," said Cohen. "I think Wal-Mart will use some products to pull holiday shoppers in and use these as big bargain loss-leaders."

But he doesn't expect Wal-Mart to offer bargain basement prices on the must-have items like Apple's iPod Nano, which the retailer recently announced will be part of its "Home for the Holidays" campaign set to kick off Tuesday.

"You don't want to destroy the pricing structure on hot products by discounting everything deeply," Cohen said. "The rule of thumb is don't be overly promotional if you don't need to."

[Anthony]

oh baby....i don't normally shop at Wal-Mart (i'm more of a Target guy when it comes to retail), but some of those deals are sick.

[Ksyrup]

One of the women in our office downloaded the Wal Mart list last week from some site. If you ladies are interested, maybe I can find out where she got it.

I'll be staying home (well, at the in-laws), thanks, eating a mid-morning helping of leftovers and getting ready for some football.

[Anthony]

man...i love Thanksgiving leftovers.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

man...i love Thanksgiving leftovers.

The turkey sandwiches on Friday are pretty much always better than the first go 'round on Thursday.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I don't go anywhere near stores the day after Thanksgiving. I worked retail once that day. A horrible, horrible day.

I will spend that day eating leftovers, relaxing, chilling with the wife, and probably playing a little Civ IV.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The turkey sandwiches on Friday are pretty much always better than the first go 'round on Thursday.

oh man...i was gonna write that but i didn't want to be accused of going overboard.

normally i refrain from eating leftovers the other 364 days a year, but for some reason i can't wait to eat Thanksgiving leftovers. i go crazy for leftover stuffing.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Two years ago Lady H_B came up with the most amazing leftover concoction. She took the leftover turkey and stuffing and made samosas out of them. She then used the leftover cranberry sauce and made a cranberry chutney. Man, that was some good eating...

I am hungry.

[MizzouRah]

I might have to get that 42" plasma from Walmart for $1000.

[sterlingice]

Amateurs, I'm surrounded by amateurs

hxxp://www.bfads.net/
This has listings of many ads including scanned zip and pdf versions

hxxp://www.fatwallet.com/
Black Friday ads this year are in the deal discussions forum instead of the hot deals forums they are usually in. So go to forums -> deal discussions and search on "Black Friday" or something like that.

My parents (ok, mom) have always been big Black Friday shoppers but malls only. They won't sit there and wait outside a Best Buy for 6 hours, but we'll get to the mall at 7 or 7:30 and do (parentally-funded) clothes shopping, be done by 11 and go across the street to a Japanese place with all-you-can-eat sushi (Kirin at Willowbrook Mall, for the Houstonians). Unfortunately, I won't be there this year to participate

With the popularity of online ad sites like fat wallet, you have to get to places earlier and earlier to get one of the only 10 in stock of the "super deals". Your best bet is to drive to that Wal Mart/Best Buy/whatever 20 miles out of town and hope the people running it aren't incompetent.

For instance, Lawrence is perfect because we have a Wal Mart, Target, Best Buy, Office Depot, and more but it's only a city of about 80K, a big chunk of which is college kids who go home for Thanksgiving. So, while a 1.5M metro KC has 10 Best Buys, they service 150K people each while ours only does 80K and so on. The pitfall here is that you have some really computer savy and poor college kids who are looking for anything to make a buck so your average competition is better than in those larger cities, too.

SI

[Galaxy]

Wal-Mart sells out in the first hour or so. Smart shoppers can find the same deals all year long, as long as they keep their eyes open.

I would have a hard time buying a laptop at Wal-Mart.

[sterlingice]

I don't entirely understand why Wal Mart even bothers with BF sales. They claim that because they didn't have great sales last year that sales were down 3% but that could have been from any number of things, particularly with a store as big as Wal Mart (which is to say, it's wholly unique due to its size).

Actually, I don't know why most places do super Black Friday sales. Right now, it's gotten to the point where you have campers who go in and just buy the super discounted loss leaders to sell on ebay (or personal use but that's a lower percentage) and that's it. Then a lot of people who miss out and go home without buying anything. I suppose there are some people who go in, see that they don't have what they want, and say "well, we'll still do our shopping here" but that margin is getting smaller and smaller.

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I suppose there are some people who go in, see that they don't have what they want, and say "well, we'll still do our shopping here" but that margin is getting smaller and smaller.

Even if it is getting smaller (which I don't doubt), the amount of "collateral sales" is enormous. They have a lot better chance of selling you something if you're in the store than they do if you aren't, that's what the sales are all about.