For a few years now Europe has adopted the Black Friday shopping tradition, with many retailers launching massive sales on what is now the official start to Christmas shopping across the world.
There was a lot of talk this year about Black Friday being “less black” and less of a bellwether for holiday shopping. In addition to REI’s #OptOut campaign, an increasing number of retailers held sales earlier, and have turned Cyber Monday into “Cyber Week” by stretching their sales out longer. So how did it all pan out behind the scenes?
Nordstrom is standing its ground on the issue of whether or not to open on Thanksgiving Day, right down to store decorations. While the chain will debut some Black Friday discounts online a day early, brick-and-mortar stores will remain closed until regular hours and open to unveil their holiday decorations for the first time on Friday, Nov. 27.
Nordstrom, for another year, is putting its employees ahead of its sales-slinging this Thanksgiving. The department store has issued a disclaimer: It will remain closed on the Thursday holiday, opening at normal hours on Black Friday, “unveiling” its holiday decorations that day. Before that, Nordstrom won’t even acknowledge that Christmas is coming.
We’ve finally slowed down enough to reflect on how we did in 2014 and the final holiday push: pretty darn great if I may say so myself. We ended another year at 100% uptime all year with record loads and HUGE growth.
It seems that, in the last 2 or 3 decades, retailers have been putting out their Christmas products earlier and earlier. In fact, most of the major retailers are now putting Christmas decorations on the shelves well before Halloween, something that many Baby Boomers have been complaining about for years.
Not so long ago, the practice of a store staying closed on Thanksgiving was simply a given: one more holiday in which workers assumed they’d get some time off. Then, amid the corporate tug-of-war over Black Friday crowds, retailers began eyeing the juicy hours of Turkey Day as the best time to kick off their crucial holiday shopping seasons.
The move drew both sales and backlash from shoppers, who worried the sacred day was being plowed beneath the tough work schedules of Black Friday creep.
With last year’s Black Friday sales rising by almost 20% online and 3% in store from the previous year, any retailers without strategies in place to connect with consumers across all channels will lose out on valuable sales opportunities in 2014.
Consumers are also increasingly using their mobile devices to research items before buying in store.