The State of Black Friday
Two years ago, I wrote a piece here on Medium (yes Medium was a young little company then…) discussing the ethical dilemmas of opening on Black Friday and subsequently, Thanksgiving day.
Like I said, I am a conflicted man. I personally wish that Black Friday would stay Black Friday. Leave Thanksgiving alone, let families enjoy it, and companies should not interfere with it.
But I have an unfortunate truth for you. As long as people keep buying, companies will keep supplying. If you want Best Buy to let their employees spend more time with their families, then don’t go to the store on Thanksgiving. If you want me to be able to let my employees have Thanksgiving off, then don’t shop at the big shops, because that trickles down to me also. When one shop opens earlier, we all have to play ball or that company will have an unfair advantage over the rest of us. It’s competition, simple as that.
In the piece I explained that I have experienced, from the top of the food chain, how the discussion goes for when to start your Black Friday sales. You look at your competitors and if they open early, then you want to open one hour earlier because often times with deals so great, customers will rack up their credit card debt to get an amazing deal, leaving less money for you if you open after they do.
This is the debate that we have had in the retail and ecommerce space for the past many years. Customers are spending more and more money on black friday and companies want a piece of the pie. If you can make 8% more money by opening an hour early, then many may justify that it’s worth the cost of asking employees to come in.
Which is why every year Black Friday seems to open earlier and earlier than the year before.
Two years ago I warned you…
Welcome to 2015
Now it’s 2015 and I have to say, that this is the most exciting year we have ever had in the history of Black Friday.
Most notably this year is the BOLD statement made by the retail giant of Outdoor Recreation, REI.
REI boldly exclaimed over a month in advance, that they will closed on Black Friday. They are calling it #OptOutside and it marks the first time a major retailer (REI reports over $2 Billion a year in Revenue) is choosing to forgo the money grab of Black Friday and instead to encourage its’ customers to spend the day outside and letting its’ employees do the same.
Some smaller retailers followed suit of REI, also promising to close and allow employees to enjoy the day with family. One of the most exciting things that happened is that many states chose to offer free admission to state parks in celebration of REI’s #optOutside campaign with one of them (Tennessee) even offering free guided hikes and tours at the State Parks.
Of course this sparked a lot of press and news coverage for the outdoor retailer who was choosing to be closed volentarily for the largest shopping day of the year.
Opening Earlier and Longer
Of course, not everyone was so happy to give up on the Black Friday tradition, many retailers leaned the opposite way, opening even earlier than before, leaking into Thanksgiving day and expanding Black Friday into a week-long or month-long event.
Chevrolet is offering a month long black friday with sales up to 20% off all their cars.
Other retailers are going for earlier instead of longer. The earliest of the large retailers to open for Black Friday sales is JC-Penny who is opening at 3pm on Thanksgiving, surely beating everyone else with open doors. Before many of us have even finished our turkey, they are already open and forcing employees to be working as well and torn away from families.
Best Buy is opening at 5pm, with Target and Walmart both opening at 6pm on Thanksgiving to celebrate Black Friday. This shows that retailers are not afraid to move the opening date earlier and earlier each year.
Amazon celebrates Black Friday a whole week in advance for Amazon Prime members on a dedicated website.
This site celebrates new deals every 5 minutes for Prime members.
Many other online retailers are also choosing to start off early with sales as much as a week before Black Friday, but still calling it “Black Friday”.
Looking Towards 2016
As we look to next year’s black friday, we must acknowledge the significance of 2015 Black Friday events. With REI’s opting out of the major retail holiday, it brought many Americans to finally question the importance and future of Black Friday.
Up to this point, we all were prey to the deals of these large stores. We didn’t question it, we simply followed along in the excitement. This year, it is different. The debate about the ethics of Black Friday is now front and center and many of us for the first time, are forced to make a choice, do we actively support Black Friday or not?
While these debates happened in 2015, only some citizens were prepared to act. I truly believe that 2016 is the year that we really see the future of Black Friday. Many retailers in 2016 may opt not to open on Thanksgiving, or opting to keep Black Friday focused around the actual day after thanksgiving, instead of going on for a week or longer.
2015 was the year that brought into question the ethics of Black Friday. With a major retailer finally putting down their foot, many consumers finally looked around and snapped out of the haze and seduction of what Black Friday had previously been. For once, companies are now being questioned for the extent that they go to get stronger revenues.
This year we will watch and see how Black friday goes for these retailers. It will surely dictate what happens next year and the future of Black Fridays to come.
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