Category: Black Friday

How Black Friday Sales On Thanksgiving Affect The Economy

Black Friday shopping is a Thanksgiving tradition for most Americans.In 2017, more than two-thirds of American adults shopped over Thanksgiving weekend, either in stores or online.But do you know how the black Friday tradition started?

In the early days, Thanksgiving became the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season in the decades after President Abraham Lincoln made it an official holiday in 1863.Then, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, various department stores began sponsoring Thanksgiving parades, such as macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.Known as the Santa parade because it ended with the arrival of Santa Claus, the parades were used by department stores to launch Christmas activities and increase interest in holiday shopping.It eventually became an unwritten rule that retailers would not start their holiday sales until after Thanksgiving.On November 28,1924 macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade for the first time, Thanksgiving has closely connected with the holiday shopping season.In the end of November, the then President Franklin d. Roosevelt to holiday for a week in advance, extended the holiday shopping season, but it also caused great public uproar.

There are many theories about the origin of black Friday, but one of them is when a dark crowd goes to the mall and waits in long lines on the Friday after Thanksgiving.One popular theory is that because it is the first day after Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November), followed by the big traditional Christmas in the United States, people usually start Christmas shopping, and many stores are filled with customers and make big profits.Traditionally, different colors of ink have been used for accounting, red for deficit and black for profit.So this Friday is called black Friday to indicate that the day is expected to be profitable.This is because store sales usually begin at midnight, the end of Thanksgiving Day, and the day after Thanksgiving, bargain hunters have to rush to the mall to line up for bargains.

Sixteen percent of Americans finish shopping two to three weeks before Christmas.Americans like to finish their holiday shopping early.Consumer data from 2015 shows that nearly one in four Americans (24%) do their holiday shopping around black Friday and cyber Monday.In fact, 8 percent of Americans buy some kind of gift on black Friday and cyber Monday.For some, the shopping season never ends.Sixteen percent of Americans do holiday shopping throughout the year.America’s holiday shopping season seems to be getting longer every year.This year, major retailers like Amazon, Costco, Walmart and Target have already announced black Friday deals in early November.

In the U.S., Black Friday has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season since 1932. It is referred to as Black Friday because many retailers usually make enough sales on that day to put them in the black for the year, meaning that they will begin to turn a profit. In 2015, 74.2 million people shopped on Black Friday alone, which is lower than the number in past years ranging anywhere from 85 million in 2011 to 92 million in 2013. Although the number of consumers have decreased in recent years, 74.2 million shoppers still means large profits for these corporations.

Black Friday is known for kicking off holiday spending, however, the three-day Black Friday weekend is where businesses truly make their money. In 2014, 133.7 million people shopped over the weekend. Each one of these 133 million spent, on average, $380.95, which totals out to be around $51 billion dollars of consumer money that was poured into the economy. Investors examine Black Friday sales in order to examine the health of the retail industry. Since many economists believe that spending drives economic growth and activity, they will imply that if Black Friday spending is low the health of the economy is too.

Us consumers spent $7.4bn online on Black Friday this year, making it the second-largest online shopping day in US history, according to data collected by AdobeAnalytics.This year’s black Friday, with $7.4 billion in sales, is not only the biggest black Friday day ever, but the second-highest online revenue ever, fall behind last year’s ‘Cyber Monday,’ with $7.9 billion.The average order value for consumers was $168, up nearly 6 percent from a year earlier and also a new black Friday record.By 9 a.m. Et, Small Business Saturday online spending had reached $470 million, up 18% from last year.Adobe said sales for the day were expected to exceed $3 billion.U.S. online sales are up about 20% from last year, according to Adobe.Adobe expects Cyber Monday spending to hit a record $9.4 billion this year, up 18.9% from a year earlier.On Friday, Adobe said online shopping on Thanksgiving Day had reached $4.2 billion, a record 14.5 percent increase from last year.Popular purchases included Disneyland frozen 2 toys, video games such as FIFA 20, and gadgets such as apple Airpods and Samsung TVS.While some traditional bricks-and-mortar stores, such as Target and Walmart, have made the transition to online shopping,and Kohl’s, Gap and macy’s have struggled.Target shares are up about 95% this year, while wal-mart is up nearly 30%.But Kohl’s, Gap and macy’s are down more than 25% this year.

This year, black Friday in the United States surpassed previous years with a record $57.9 billion in transactions.Black Friday is more than just a record deal this year. It is a bellwether for America’s economic outlook.

First, black Friday comes at a critical time for U.S. economic growth.The U.S. economy has been growing for 124 months, making it the longest economic cycle in U.S. history.This round of economic growth began with the Obama administration’s economic stimulus after the financial crisis and has been driven by trump’s tax reform.From the perspective of the economic cycle, the long period of economic growth has actually entered a sensitive point.The market is worried that the economic situation will turn around, and pessimistic expectations further increase the downward pressure on the economy.Black Friday comes at a critical time, when markets will be watching for more consumer data that will help gauge consumer confidence and economic expectations.

Second, black Friday comes at a delicate time for the dynamics of economic growth in the United States.Uncertainty over Mr Trump’s trade policies has dented us investor confidence and reduced us business investment.The current economic growth, is consumption growth to compensate for the decline in investment.Both consumer discretionary and consumer discretionary stocks in the s&p 500 are up about 22% this year.Target, Tiffany, best buy, home depot and Walmart are all up at least 25%.U.S. consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic output and is now the main driver of the U.S. economy.With trade frictions likely to escalate again and business investment and industrial chains reeling, the U.S. economy’s ability to sustain growth in the fourth quarter depends on the start of the shopping season on black Friday.Third, black Friday is at a time of rising economic and trade frictions between China and the United States.On May 17, Mr Trump threatened to impose a 10 per cent tariff on $300bn of Chinese imports.Since then, the office of the U.S. trade representative has further refined the list, with tariffs on some goods, including cellphones, laptops, video games, monitors, toys, shoes and clothing, going into effect on Sept. 1 and delayed until Dec. 15.Since the trade war between China and the United States, the United States has been escalating tariffs on Chinese imports, starting with high-tech products that are far away from the consumer end, then intermediate products, and finally spreading to consumer goods.Postponed to December 15 after this part of the concern?Mainly consumer staples, this is mainly to keep tariffs from affecting the black Friday to Christmas Eve shopping season, reducing the impact on consumer prices and business profits.Even as China and the us prepare to sign the first phase of the trade deal, Mr Trump has merely lifted a threat of tariff escalation on October 15, but has remained non yes-so on the tariffs to be imposed on December 15.An escalation of tariffs would immediately affect the price of electronic goods such as iphones, so black Friday may be the last time for American shoppers to sell good deals.

Meaning And Importance Of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has its origins.

According to a rumor, the Wampanoag tribe observed that the British settlers (Pilgrims) who first set foot on the American continent in Plymouth in 1621 had not yet become accustomed to the geography of the region and found that they were struggling with hunger. The tribe felt pitiful for the new settlers and shared their prey and crops with helpfulness and hospitality. This celebration, which emerged from the peaceful convergence of the two communities, formed the basis of future Thanksgiving celebrations.

Meaning and Importance of Thanksgiving

According to a different rumor, this feast started when the Pilgrims went hunting for poultry collectively in November 1621 and capturing enough animals for groups of 50 people for a week. Although the story suggests that these animals are turkeys, they are more likely to be geese and ducks that are easier to hunt. In any case, following this fertile event, a Wampanoag indigenous group of about 90 people came to the Plymouth camp, which was still a few buildings.

Although the British settlers were initially uneasy about this unexpected visit, the groups quickly fused together, and a joint feast was held for several days, with the venison brought by the Indians as a present. In this open- air feast, deer and poultry were probably consumed as well as seafood, vegetables and beer. The groups, who were able to negotiate because of the language barrier, organized games and competitions between them and detonated weapons. This feast, which emerged as a fruitful harvest and a celebration of common blessings, has become traditional as Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving tradition also takes place in Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest religions in the world. This day, known as Jashan, is not specifically set in the calendar. They are small festivals that can also be performed on recent events.

What to do on Thanksgiving

All the family members try to get together, eat turkeys cooked carefully at the big tables set up and thank God for all the blessings he gave.

Theme decorations for seasons and upcoming special occasions are often the only thing that brings color to the calm US streets. Especially for those who love to take pictures, the spectacular landscapes create hard-to- capture frames for memorial albums. This night, known as Black Friday, is the night that connects the Thursday night of Thanksgiving to Friday, with the biggest discount of the year in almost all US stores.

Black Friday began at the beginning with small discounts to direct people looking for something to do with Thanksgiving and the next day being public holidays. These discounts became expected by people over time, people who think they will find the opportunity to start this day to buy Christmas gifts and considerable mobility brought to the economy, caused satisfaction on both sides. Discount percentages increased over time and November became the last Friday of a shopping festival.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.wikizeroo.org/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly90ci53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvxZ7DvGtyYW5fR8O8bsO8
2. https://www.dunyaatlasi.com/sukran-gunu-nedir-ne-zaman-kutlanir/
3. https://www.wikizeroo.org/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly90ci53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvxZ7DvGtyYW5fR8O8bsO8
4. https://www.dunyaatlasi.com/sukran-gunu-nedir-ne-zaman-kutlanir/

Social Learning Theory And Black Friday

Legend of Black Friday

Imagine sitting down at the kitchen table surrounded by family and friends while spending the Thanksgiving holiday together. Laughter and stories are echoed through the house while the resonances of football games are playing in the background. Delicious food has filled everyone’s bellies and naptime is near. While Thanksgiving is a holiday focused on being thankful and appreciative for the gift of life and family fellowship, the day after Thanksgiving validates to show the opposite effect of what the holiday is truly about. This day is now acknowledged as “Black Friday.”

Thanksgiving was recognized as a federal holiday starting in 1870 giving the ability for most companies to follow the direction of the government as a day off work. In 1924 Macy’s department store would capitalize on starting a tradition of a parade in New York that would pass in front of the store showing off the holiday seasons must-have items. Since Thanksgiving was on a Thursday, and if employees were lucky enough not to work in retail, employees would use Friday as a day off to have a four-day weekend to get a jump-start on buying holiday presents. Author Jane Thomas from Winthrop University believes the term “Black Friday” to be an urban myth that was developed in 1965 by the Philadelphia Police Department. The Philadelphia Police Department was required to work 12 hours on the Friday after Thanksgiving to deal with the enormous number of shoppers and the exorbitant amount of vehicle traffic. While the exact origin of the term is unclear, Thomas also mentions how the term was co-opted from accounting practices in the 1980s as numerical values in red were considered losses and numerical values in black were designated as profits or gains. (Thomas & Peters, p. 522).

When the Black Friday sale advertisements come out in the Thanksgiving Day newspaper, consumers will scour through the paper to find the biggest discounts on the hottest items of the holiday buying season. Lines out the doors of businesses appear to be miles long and people come prepared to get the lower priced items, even for a two-dollar pillow. The public walks through the department store of their choosing stalking the items the public wants to buy much like a lion stalks its prey, waiting on the time to pounce on the deal. Once the store opens or the product becomes available to the public, consumers become rambunctious and will push and shove so that they get their hands on an item that there are few quantities of on Black Friday. Even though law enforcement can help control most of the chaotic crowds and the public’s behaviors, there is always that chance of something going wrong. While Black Friday shopping may seem like a good idea to join the crazy madness to save money, the risk of injuries and death become greater due to the behaviors of others. In order to better understand why people turn to deviant leisure by starting fights and killing others on Black Friday, criminologists must use the social learning theory and social bonding theory to explain why someone would risk going to jail over a simple bargain.

What Makes A Good Theory

While examining why Black Friday shoppers resort to deviant leisure behavior, two theories will help support this claim. First is the social learning theory and second, being the social bonding theory. Understanding what makes a good theory is key in connecting these two together with Black Friday shopping. Crime continues to grow, which causes researchers to develop different criminological theories to better understand criminal behavior. Theories produce hypotheses about the factors that take into consideration legal and criminal justice actions and decisions (Akers & Sellers, p. 13). College students, professionals, theorists, and practitioners all have different views on the meaning and value of what makes a theory “good.”

When theories are created, it does not guarantee that something will happen more as theories are simple generalizations that explain how two different ideologies are related to each other and not just inevitable conclusions. According to Akers and Sellers, theories are about real situations, feelings, experiences and human behavior (Akers & Sellers, p. 1). In reference to Black Friday shopping madness, two criminological theories of social learning theory and social bonding theory generalize the facts that are already known about Black Friday shopping and test against new facts. Using these criminological theories will help give tentative answers to the questions of why Black Friday is becoming a dangerous tradition and what makes shoppers commit such crimes.

In selecting social learning theory and social bonding theory to explain the correlation between leisure defiance and the reasons for injuries and deaths on Black Friday, these two theories will try to answer why social and legal norms are violated by using facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. According to Akers and Sellers, there are two interrelated parts to this question: “Why are there variations in group rates of crime and deviance, and why are some individuals more likely than others to commit criminal and deviant acts?” (Akers & Sellers, p. 3). The first part focuses on the differences in societal and group patterns, while the second part focuses on individual differences. In order to better understand why the public violates social and legal norms while Black Friday shopping, questions are asked such as why do people flock to the stores for discounted items, why does violence occur, and what makes a person commit a crime for such a small incentive?

Theory Description

The reasons why Black Friday crimes happen and what propels someone to risk imprisonment over material items such as a sale on a television will become clearer using the social learning theory and social bonding theory. The origin of the social learning theory in the field of criminology refers primarily to the theory of crime and deviance that was developed from Ronald L. Akers, based on the principles of Albert Bandura that “reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral and environmental determinants” (Akers and Sellers, p.85). Akers developed his theory after working with Robert L. Burgess and reformulating Edwin H. Sutherland’s differential association theory of crime. “The social learning theory is one of the most frequently tested and endorsed theories of crime and delinquency among academic criminologists” (Akers & Sellers, p.85).

Akers’ social learning theory has been applied to a lot of different types of deviant and criminal behavior that correlates with the mechanism of rewards and punishments. “Social learning theory retains a strong element of the symbolic interactionism found in the concepts of differential association and definitions from Sutherland’s theory” (Akers & Sellers, p. 89). Akers has focused on the four areas such as differential association, differential reinforcement, imitation, and definitions when discussing the social learning theory of criminal behaviors.

The major control theorist, Travis Hirschi, developed the social bonding theory in the field of criminology in 1969 with the collaboration of Criminologist Gottfredson and published in Causes of Delinquency (Akers & Sellers, p. 128). The social bonding theory originated after taking into consideration all types of criminal and deviant behavior. Hirschi took all the previous control theories and put together his thoughts on delinquent behavior. Hirschi stands out from all the other control theorists because he used different testing methods to back up his social bonding theory. While most theorists want to find out why crimes are committed, Hirschi wants the answers to why society isn’t committing crimes.

The main thesis of the social bonding theory proves that when the bond between an individual to society is no longer strong that delinquent behavior occurs (Özbay & Özcan, p. 134). Attachment, commitment, beliefs, and involvement are all elements that make up a bond and determine how an individual’s behaviors will turn out. When an individual’s bond with society is strong, then the better chance the individual will abide by societal norms and not break the laws. If an individual has a weak bond with society, then that individual is more than likely to break the law because conforming to what society wants will only increase the chances of criminal behavior to occur.

Theory Assumption

The social learning theory is a broader theory that includes the differential association theory processes. In criminal behavior, there are mechanisms of learning, which means that people pick up in different ways on how to do certain things. A child inherently does not have primal knowledge that stealing is unacceptable but is taught the wrongs and rights based on their upbringing. Whereas if the child witnesses the deviant behavior of their parents stealing, then this becomes a learned and acceptable behavior. Burgess and Akers identified the learning mechanisms to include, “differential reinforcement, whereby “operant” behavior (the voluntary actions of the individual) is contained or shaped by rewards and punishments” (Akers & Sellers, p. 88). Like the child mentioned before, the child steals from the store and is then rewarded by keeping the item that was stolen. The child is going to continue stealing from the store due to the enjoyment of being able to keep what they take. Burgess and Akers also identified and used other mechanisms that include, classical conditioning, discriminative and internal stimuli, and schedules of reinforcement, along with other principles of behavior modification (Akers & Sellers, p. 88). Like the child mentioned before, the child steals from the store and is then rewarded by keeping the item that was stolen. The child is going to continue stealing from the store due to the enjoyment of being able to keep what they take. Some other mechanisms used include classical conditioning, discriminative and internal stimuli, and schedules of reinforcement, along with other principles of behavior modification (Akers & Sellers, p. 88).

Classical conditioning is when there is an involuntary response to something by using a certain behavior. Classic conditioning is best described in the example of the Noble Peace prizewinner Ivan Pavlov and his dogs. Discriminative stimuli include factors from the environment and internal motivations of a person that makes them react with certain cues or signals for behaviors. Reinforcement, whether the choice is negative or positive, is scheduled to reflect the ratio and rate in which rewards or punishments are given after behavior reaction.

“The basic assumption in social learning theory is that the same learning process in a context of social structure, interaction, and situation, produces both conforming and deviant behavior (Akers & Sellers, p. 89).” The social learning theory states that the probability of an individual committing a crime or following society’s laws is going to be based on the individual’s learning history. If an individual’s social structure includes those who break the law, then that individual is going to learn the same behaviors. If breaking the law becomes a learned behavior, it will be hard for that individual to have a good bond with society.

The social bonding theory was developed by Hirschi to understand social conformity and to study why people choose not to conform. If one’s direction is heavily influenced by committing crimes, then that individual will conform to committing a crime because their bond with society is weak and going against society’s norms on purpose. If an individual has learned what society’s norms and laws are, then that individual will more than likely have a strong bond with society, therefore, being an abiding citizen and conforming to what is right.

Hirschi proposed that there are four elements to the social bonding theory: attachment, commitment, involvement, and beliefs (Sims, p. 102). Attachment is the kind of bond that an individual has with society. If an individual has a strong and stable attachment to others within the society, then that individual is less likely to violate society’s norms. If a weak attachment is present, then an individual will deviate from society’s norms by engaging in criminal behaviors. Commitment is when an individual has invested time into something. If an abiding citizen of society is committed to conforming to society’s norms, the less likely that citizen is going to lose what goals have been completed because of the amount of commitment fulfilled. When an individual is involved in productive things such as employment, education, or raising a family, there is less time and opportunity to engage in deviant activities. Beliefs play a factor in an individual’s conformity to society based on if the norms the individual believes in are similar to society’s norms.

Crime or Deviant Behavior Application

After getting a better understanding of the social learning theory and social bonding theory, both theories will be used to explain why someone would risk going to jail over a simple bargain on Black Friday. The chaotic scenes of people being pushed, shoved, and trampled to the ground have become newsworthy headlines addressing Black Friday sales. According to http://blackfridaydeathcount.com/, there have been twelve deaths and one hundred and seventeen injuries reported since 2006 due to Black Friday madness. Although these numbers don’t seem high, Black Friday sales continue to start earlier each year by starting the evening of Thanksgiving. While retailers have opened earlier times for shoppers to start, this only allows for more crime and deviant behavior to occur.

The social learning theory is based on the idea that the voluntary actions of an individual’s behaviors are shaped by rewards and punishments that one may receive. When it comes to Black Friday shopping, shoppers’ deviate from their social norms in order to get that two-dollar pillow. Shoppers are going to have to act fast and in this process, become caught up in the moment and disassociate from what is acceptable. Shoppers will resort to any means necessary to obtain the item desired. While there may be only twenty pillows in the bargain bin, there may be forty customers ready to buy such an amazing deal. Customers will do whatever it takes to get that pillow because they want to be the first to grab the deal. Customers view Black Friday shopping as a way to increase their buying potential by saving the most money on these items. This propels customers to risk imprisonment by competing with other customers to save more money. The social learning theory describes that Black Friday shoppers conform to what the other shoppers are doing and will quickly catch on to others’ behaviors whether good or bad.

The social structure, interaction, and situation effects how an individual is going to respond to Black Friday shopping. In the scenario of a Black Friday event, shoppers are lined up behind closed doors of retailers until it is time to shop until you drop. The social structure at a busy store is going to be hard to assess as not only will there be a lot of chaos going on with the products coming off the shelves, but shoppers will be yelling and shuffling to get to that item. If a shopper gets the item off the shelf, that shopper is going to be happy and will move on. If the shopper doesn’t get to the item in time, that shopper is more than likely to start a fight with another shopper so that they can obtain the item. When the individual starts to throw punches and tries to take the item from another customer, the social learning theory best describes this situation as “criminal behavior that is learned in a process of symbolic interaction with others (Akers & Sellers, p. 87).”

Black Friday is known for getting the best deals on items, so customers want to obtain such deals even if it means there is no urgent need for the item by the customer. Customers have also observed criminal behavior on Black Friday from news reports and in-person experiences, which can become a learned behavior. If one customer starts to grab an item early before it is time to do so, plenty of other customers will follow suit behind because it is a competition to grab the item. While that customer took the move to grab the item early, it causes other customers to become agitated and anxious to grab the same item. This then leads to customers becoming aggressive by pushing others that can lead to injury or death. Once one shopper starts to become aggressive and hostile, customers around that same person become socially inclined to learn that by becoming aggressive and hostile there is a better chance at getting the item. The reward at the end of Black Friday shopping consists of a discounted item.

The social bonding theory can explain how attachment, commitment, involvement, and beliefs play a factor in the dangerous outcomes of shopping. If a shopper has a strong bond with society, then the chances of that shopper following the store’s rules regarding Black Friday are good. When a shopper doesn’t have a strong bond with society, the shopper is going to commit such acts as pulling a gun or using physical force. Those who go to Black Friday sales and cause harm to others are displaying a poor bond with society and little attachment for what deviant behaviors they have caused. Guns are shot and punches are punched all because one shopper has different beliefs than the rest of the shoppers. While it may be a right to wear a gun for protection, society believes that shooting a gun into a group of shoppers because of a bargain doesn’t follow under the norms of society. Those who simply have a negative bond with society are not going to care if they get incarcerated over a two-dollar pillow.

Policy Solutions

To help cut down on Black Friday crimes and deviant behaviors, it is important to look at possible policy solutions based on the social learning theory and social bond theory. While customers are the ones creating issues such as starting fights, workers may also benefit from policy changes. Prior to Black Friday, store personnel should have increased education and training to address merchandise location, coupon procedures, and safety tips when dealing with huge crowds of people (Simpson, Taylor, O’Rourke, & Shaw, p. 3). When workers are aware of what to expect on days like Black Friday, the workers can better assess situations where fights break out or guns are present. While it may be rare for a gun to go off in a store, it is better for the workers to be fully educated on what to do if they suspect a shopper acting suspicious and may have a gun on them. Law enforcement can provide training to workers on how to deescalate certain situations with customers. Not only will the additional training make the workers feel more confident in working the shift, but the skills and knowledge will help the event run smoothly. Workers that are educated may be able to stop a violent situation from happening, which can help lower the deviant behavior that occurs.

Another policy solution to Black Friday madness is by increasing law enforcement present at the stores. Law enforcement may be present in small quantities due to the busy start of the holiday season, but by increasing the number of officers present could play a huge role in how certain individuals behave. The presence of law enforcement would make the majority of the public conform and following the laws by being civil. The less law enforcement that is present, the better the chances of someone starting a fight or shooting a gun. The social bonding theory would support this policy solution as long as law enforcement has a good bond with society. If a particular department has a bad reputation or poor bond with the community, then the chances of the public acknowledging and abiding the officers will be low.

A third policy solution to help build the social bond between society and law enforcement is to use all resources possible on Black Friday. While law enforcement officers are already short staffed and overworked during the holidays, using other departments such as the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) could help offer more support and crowd control. While EMA officers are volunteers, local law enforcement officers rely on EMA workers to back them up when needed. EMA officers can not only help with crowd control of the busy shoppers, but can assist in emergencies, vehicle security, directed patrols, and traffic support. EMA officers would be utilized the whole day, but mostly during the busiest starting times for stores to open for the sales. EMA officers can take turns at various locations that draw in the most people.

The last policy solution to cut down on crime during Black Friday shopping that law enforcement officers can conform to is developing a strong system of communication with all participating stores. It is imperative that the stores and law enforcement are on the same page when it comes to how everything will run. Conducting a meeting with law enforcement and store managers to come up with a plan can help get better control of the madness that is about to endure. Store managers can even create teams so that employees know whom to report to in case of an emergency and law enforcement know whom to contact in case of any concerns that may arise.

Ending Black Friday Chaos

The social learning theory and social bonding theory help to better understand why people turn to deviant leisure by starting fights and killing others on Black Friday and taking the risk of going to jail over a cheaper item. The social learning theory proves that the public is interested in getting an item for a cheaper price, so the reward of pushing others and becoming violent for that item is worth it. When certain individuals start to act out on Black Friday by name-calling, throwing punches, and aggressively walking in busy crowds, other individuals start to socially conform and react by demonstrating the same types of behaviors. When the crowds are already hard to control, having angry customers can put the situation at risk for serious injuries and possibly even death. The social bonding theory proves that when an individual has a weak bond with society, that individual is already at a greater risk of not following society’s norms. When the individual doesn’t have that bond to conform to society, that individual will end up breaking the law because they don’t want to follow the norms that society believes in. Even if the sale is just for a two-dollar pillow, those who have weak bonds and are not socially connected are going to commit crimes such as pulling guns on others and throwing punches. Law enforcement can use the policy solutions to assist the Black Friday chaos and make it a better running system each year.

References

1. Akers, R. L. & Sellers, C. S. (2009). Criminological theories: Introduction, evaluation, and application (5th ed). New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.
2. Özbay, Ö., & Özcan, Y. Z. (2008). A test of hirschi’s social bonding theory: A comparison of male and female delinquency. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 52(2), 134–157.
3. Sims, R. L. (2002). Ethical rule breaking by employees: A test of social bonding theory. Journal of Business Ethics, 40(2), 101-109.
4. Simpson, L., Taylor, L., O’Rourke, K., & Shaw, K. (2011). An analysis of consumer behavior on black Friday. Faculty Research & Creative Activity. 1(1): 1-5.
5. Thomas, J. B. & Peters, C. (2011). “An exploratory investigation of black friday consumption rituals”, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 39(7), 522-537.

Is Shopping During The Black Friday, 11.11, 12.12 Sales Worth It?

It is not uncommon that holiday seasons have been greatly metamorphosed as shopping seasons at large. Birthing with great intentions, the word ‘shopping’ for some although seeming to be grim, for many it is a bliss; specifically when one gets what they dearly want at unrealistically low prices.

‘Sale, sale, sale! Early bird specials! One day only! Get the best deal! Act now! While supplies last. See store for details.’ For years, us humans have been fed with such boo-hockey and yet we participate in this insanity. But why?

To further exploit our gullibility, in today’s fast paced world, merchants have come up with many ‘shopping holidays’ which have resulted in some sort of craze worldwide.

‘Black Friday, 12.12 and 11.11’. we have all heard of it and have at least once been a part of it. On these very days , we ravenously consume with no regards to the harm were inflicting on ourselves, specifically our wallets. With gluttonous greed, we truly live the meaning of buying as much as we can to fill our void with material possessions.

These infectious shopping events have sadly become a consumer culture, which we should not actually be proud of.

First, ask yourselves, have you actually been ‘full’ after the copious shopping? Or burning a deep hole in your wallets? Or did you feel duped falling prey to all these peppiness? More importantly, was it worth it?

Somehow a ‘global sensation’, Black Friday lands on the day after Thanksgiving but it is actually a shopping season that begins in November. In Amazon, online deals started in the midnight of November 29. Generally speaking, Black Friday sales would start days or even weeks before the actual date and continue till the entire December shopping season (Chen, 2020). On the other hand, shopping days like 11.11 and 12.12 are the biggest online shopping event that appeared quite recently. The day 11.11 was chosen to represent Single’s day where Alibaba and Jack Ma, it’s founder rebranded the day from anti Valentine to a global shopping day for all single people out there (Rajeck, 2019). Double 12 was also started in China where it aims to promote sales in small and medium sized enterprise which had been left out by the Single’s Day being largely dominated by big brands (King, 2015). All these events had boost sales up to millions. Statistics have shown in 2016, Alibaba made a rocket sales of $17.8billion in Single’s day alone (Kaur, 2018). Now, putting out thinking caps on, let’s ponder together, are these so called ‘events’ really worth it?

Did you know, ‘a few years ago, a Wal-Mart worker was killed in a stampede on the treacherous day after Thanksgiving. As the management prepared to open the store doors at 5 a.m., the employee was pushed to the ground and then trampled to death as shoppers surged through the entrance to get to the deals’? (10 Reasons Black Friday Is Awful and Needs to Go Away | Business Insurance Quotes: Compare Providers for Free, 2020). In short, it can be a dangerous phenomenon be in online or in-store. As these record-breaking shopping events come to a closing, there is a severe aftermath due to the intense shopping demand and shipping demand. Workers are expected to struggle and deal with large numbers of parcels and they are forced to pull an all-nighter in order to keep up with the orders placed (Popov, 2019). Logistic bases would become crowded and be flooded with parcels and this might pose a working hazard for the workers (McDowell, 2019). In addition, there is a chance of the parcels being damaged. Although many people would go for online shopping, thousands of people would still brave the crowd. Traffic jams, accidents such as stampedes, fist fights and car accidents are only few of the drawbacks imposed by such spree, not to mention an aggressive attitudes trampling for things they do not need. Deaths and injuries have actually occurred where statistics have shown that in 44 separate Black Friday sales, it has resulted in 11 deaths and 108 injuries (Crockett, 2019). The most famous Black Friday injuries are stampede-related deaths where a Walmart employee in New York has been overrun by 2000 shoppers who had streamed over his body as he lay on the concrete floor (Libo, 2019). Therefore, these prove that such shopping events are actually very dangerous.

On top of that, Black Friday, 11.11, and 12.12 kind of defeats the purpose of trying to save money as people wind up making loads of impulsive buys all merely because the prices of items appear to be cheaper, or is it? To elaborate, let’s take Black Friday sales as an example. Some shops purposely ensure that they increase prices higher before Black Friday to be able to announce to consumers that they are having a larger discount for Black Friday sales. Analysts have detected that prices appears to be higher in the weeks before Black Friday (Netivist, 2016). As such, the problem here is that you do not really know whether the deals are genuinely worthwhile or otherwise. In short,‘gimmick’s’ the word. Organized shoppers would know exactly what they want and as such prioritize their purchase. However, most individuals would be easily enticed by the deals they stumble upon and as such find it too tempting to be passed up. Despite being on sale, excessive impulsive buying could really add up and hence failing the primary objective of saving. To quote the words of Admiral Ackbar of Star Wars, ‘it’s a trap!’

On another note, according to S Birruntha (2019), ‘Malaysia’s top three e-commerce players, Lazada, Shopee, and Taobao experienced strong traffic growth within the first hour of one-day online shopping craze, the 12.12 sale’. In spite many perceiving it to be a mode of treachery to entice innocent buyers into buying more that what they actually need, are shopping events, such as the Black Friday, 11.11 and 12.12 sales really not worth it? Such shopping events provide the masses with a platform to purchase items of their desire at discounted prices, instead of paying for them at retail. While shopping at discounted prices to your hearts’ desire may seem appealing, such shopping events are only truly worth it if one purchases what they actually need. From a suppliers perspective, such shopping events is a mean to clear inventory, specifically products in need of near replacements, hence, making room for new models and products. Besides that, such madness also assists new, small and upcoming businesses to further develop and grow, contributing to a sustainable market share and strengthening their market appearance. Further supporting this statement, ‘Alibaba’s 11.11 Singles Day sales” (2019) contends that ‘homegrown small and medium enterprises across the region registered strong performance, including Ellips, the first Indonesian brand to participate in this year’s Tmall 11.11 Shopping Festival under the Lazada-Tmall Global Partnership.’

However, it is true that Black Friday, 11.11 and 12.12 sales will always be the most exciting days for many as they have anticipated that they will be able to get things way cheaper than normal days. While that may be one of benefits, it can result several concerning issues. Firstly, as previously highlighted, it will may potentially pose to be a threat towards the safety of all the parties involved namely, the customers and workers. For the customers, they would have to sacrifice their sleep and wait there outside of the store overnight to get all the limited items and doing so would put their health at risk as they do not have sufficient and quality rest. On the other hand, it may effect one’s emotion specifically when they do not get their heart’s desire, hence making one susceptible to shopping rage. Besides, we are all too familiar with such events resulting in over crowded stores and long ques which may be the recipe to turn even the calmest of the lot into irrational manics

The above can be further proven by an accident that had happened on Nov 28, 2008 at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. At 3:30 a.m where the worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34 was trampled to death (Robert, 2008). According to the news report, ‘the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him. Others who had stood alongside Mr. Damour trying to hold the doors were also hurled back and run over. This had clearly shown how dangerous it might goes to.

“Happiness is not in money, but in shopping” – Marilyn Monroe

All in all, shopping during sales is not worth the cause. Shopping during Black Friday, 11.11, 12.12 sales is a nightmare we should not buy tickets to. It depends on how people define sales according to their perspective and point of view. For some, these sales days may be a day of fright, while for others being a day of cheer. These are days that return every year packaged in a new light than normal sales, offering consumers a plethora of offers and deals too sweet to be declined. Although thousands of advantages and disadvantages can be concluded from this topic, we stand by our opinion that , shopping during Black Friday, 11.11, 12.12 and Year-End Sale is not worth it as many people think. So are you on a budget, willing to make your way out of this craze alive?

Wildernesses In Businesses: Friday Black

In Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s apocalyptic short story “Friday Black”, the author scrutinizes consumers’ and businesses’ wilderness on Black Friday in a dystopian, contemporary and materialistic society. For most people, Black Friday rhymes with ‘Deals and Steals’- meaning that trying to buy what we really want or need at a good price. But in this account, the author stepped it up, and literally labels Black Friday as a ‘dark’ day where humans consumers turn into obstreperous creatures to be able to purchase the goods they want, no matter what it takes and to the detriment of the stores’ workers. Nana Kwame symbolizes the dehumanization of the customers and as well as the inhumane working conditions of retails employees by using zoomorphism, the first person’s narrative point of view and through the use of syntax. In this story, the author show how he reacts to absurdities and tries to find meaning at work where preposterous events happen.

Throughout the story, the narrator utilizes zoomorphism as a device to illustrate the theme of hyper-consumerism in order to give a disorienting twist to the story within a familiar place and to demonstrate consumer’s desire and aggression. For example, “White foam drips from his mouth” (Adjei-Brenyah 106) and “Our gate whines and rattles as they shake and pull, their fingers through the grating” (104) matches to zoomorphism which shows the hunger of materialistic consumers who are dehumanized by their envy of buying goods. This kind of behavior may indicate that for the consumers, buying these goods is a form of ‘reward’ or ‘achievement’ and that it is essential to be able to fit in the society we live in. In other words, possessing goods defines who we are and there is a positive correlation between one’s status and the goods possessed. Furthermore, the protagonist acclaims the fact that “[t]he Prominent is bloody and broken, so I can tell it’s been a great Black Friday” (110). This clearly shows that in a radical form of a money-oriented society, emphaty, a key psychological characteristic of humans, has been taken away and replaced by indifference. This reaction can be justified by the fact that in the business world, people should not “react or judge” emotion in the workplace (Zigarmi) as it might affect the productivity. This also represents the psychological dehumanization and the exploitation of retail workers. Overall, the author use of zoomorphism is not only to justify the action of consumers but also to tackle the issue of inhumane working conditions and the fact that attachment to material goods ‘steals’ people’s mind.

To continue, Adjei-Brenyah’s employment of the first person’s point of view, allows readers to comprehend how the main character finds meaning in such a wild environment and the link between love and money. “We’re supposed to do a million over the next thirty days. Most of it’s on me” (104), this shows the main character’s ego. He wants to do the most sales because it is a “realistic way of satisfying the id’s demand” (McLeod). According to Sigmund Freud’s theory about id and ego, the fact that the protagonist wants to sell a lot, emerge from an idea that he conceived in his unconscious mind. In other words, the id is the unconscious mind and the “ego is the consciousness” (McLeod) that allows us to “achieve the id’s needs” (McLeod). In this short story, the id’s need is based on recognition, which is the fact that he wants to either be “[t]he greatest goddamn salesman this store has ever seen and will ever see”(111) or to “beat her [Angela]”(111) and to “squash her[Angela]” (110). Moreover, the need for recognition goes even further when he will bring the coat to her mother as a symbol that he loves her. This type behavior brings up the question where to draw the line between materialism and love. In the story, we learn that his family had financial issues and his parents “yell about money” (110). It means the happiness of his family depends on money, thus leaving readers to believe that the relationship within his family members are ‘materialistic’ and in order to bring happiness, he has to bring money or in this case the jacket. In short, the use of the first person’s point of view illustrates that the protagonist finds meaning by his desire for recognition in his workplace and within his family.

Finally, in Adjei-Brenyah’s Friday Black, the author makes use of syntax to demonstrate dehumanization, the regression of the human species as well as the theme of personhood. In fact, he uses short nominal sentences, that are not elaborated. For example, “Blue! Son! SleekPack!” (106) shows humans regression and the fact that they do not speak English but “speak Black Friday” (106). Furthermore, this type of sentence structure is also a flashback to the untamed world when language was not sophisticated. By doing so, the author is comparing the consumers to early human species who tries to survive in the primitive Earth. Thus, he is suggesting that the society suffers from a ‘biological devolution’ as humans are behaving more like primitive times. This brings up the question of personhood. What distinguishes human species and a person? An individual is considered as a human “if there is human DNA” (Personhood: Crash Course Philosophy #21) but to be a person, there needs to be “moral consideration” (Ibid). But in this story, humans do not have any moral consideration because it is normal that “our store has three bodies in the bodies section” (108) and the more humans die, the better Black Friday is. In brief, the sentence structure brings the reader to question whether or not the consumers should be defined as humans or persons.

To conclude, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah shows the devastating effect of living in an extreme materialistic society in which compassion and humanistic behavior are swept away through the use of zoomorphism, first person point of view and syntax. In the story, the main character tries to win his mother’s affection by giving her a jacket. Even though the protagonist claims that this act is to show affection towards her mother, the love is based on money. The jacket’s price reflects the love and this changes the way on what affection is based on. The narrator bings up the issue of communication in his family and in fact, it is proven that greediness has a negative effect on relationships because “materialism was also linked to less effective communication, higher levels of negative conflict, lower marriage relationship satisfaction and less marriage stability” (Hutchinson). In other words, human’s love for money is redefining what it means to be human. Thus, ‘Friday Black’, brings up the issue of human wanting more money and goods which leads to the dehumanization and regression of the society.

The Phenomenon And Issues Of Black Friday In The UK

The Phenomenon

The Black Friday phenomenon was initially imported from the U.S in the early 2,000’s which has now made its way through to the U.K markets as well. Due to some poor sales performance retailers who were initially skeptical about participating in the Black Friday event have now given in to boost sales. According to research conducted by PWC, it was found that over three fourth retailers have now started participating in the event hoping that it will kick-start the Christmas shopping earlier.

The key question now is that is the phenomenon of Black Friday now starting to show signs of a slow down? Some retailers this year decided to opt out of the event and instead invest in year-round lower prices.

Level of Interest in Black Friday

The above table shows the importance of the Black Friday phenomenon based on age groups. It can be noticed that it has a greater effect on the younger population than the older. As you move up age brackets the interest seems to decrease. It is highest is among the 18-24 category and grabs the attention of consumers under the age of 45 who are more likely to be interested in making a purchase. Targeting the older demographics may not be successful with over three fourths of over 55’s either not keen or avoiding the phenomenon altogether.

Where in the UK is Black Friday most popular?

Northern Ireland is where Black Friday has had the most effect followed by London where over 55% of people have been interested. Whereas over 60% of the people haven’t been interested in the event in the East of England.

So, from the people that are interested in spending during the Black Friday Sale how much do people intend on spending? Comparing figures from 2017 to 2018 generally the average spending has remained the same at GBP 234. Surprisingly, the big spenders here are men who are willing to spend GBP 60 more than women (per person). This might be because in comparison to women who might shop all year-round men wait for the Black Friday sale to make their larger purchases. As women have already made their purchases previously, they don’t intend on spending more. So, while more stores have participated in this year’s Black Friday event the average spending has not really increased. What does that tell us about the significance of the Black Friday sale? Is the importance subsiding? Could this be because they are just trying to curb their spending as the 18-24 age group is most interested in spending during Black Friday and often this category is more budget conscious, or are they concerned due to Brexit implications.

What are people looking for during Black Friday and for whom?

Black Friday, when launched was aimed to boost the sales of electricals, is it still boosting electricals or has that changed? This year the interest in adult clothing has increased significantly with over double the number of consumers saying that they will look for fashion bargains over Black Friday.

Followed by clothing is stocking fillers, toys, health and beauty, homewares and food and drink. Looking at the below it can be analysed that Black Friday is more a ‘self-gifting’ shopping period than the traditional Christmas shopping which is more about ‘practical gifting’ where food and drinks, children’s clothing etc. is prioritized more.

Black Friday takes place on November 20th, prior to the Christmas holidays. Initially retailers have resisted discounting their products prior to a full price Christmas shopping season that usually took place from early December but that seems to have changed in recent times.

Crowding

Over the years the shopping experience has evolved from just in-store to online channels such as websites on laptop/desktops and mobile apps. In the UK capital, streets were crowded with people looking to benefit from the bargains. Approximately 69% of the purchases was made through online channels with only 26% made in-store. It is likely that the in-store purchases will be made by people in the younger age bracket than the 35-44-year olds with families who have commitments at home. So, who is really spending on the high street stores? It could be a mix of the young and old with the highest proportions of in-store spending by people under 25 or over 55.

Black Friday Shopping Medium’s

The Implications of Black Friday

To be able to understand the implications of Black Friday we will use the five performance objectives to evaluate. The four objectives that apply in this scenario are speed, quality, dependability and cost.

Speed

During the Black Friday phenomenon, the entire supply chain of operations management is affected. Most companies participating find it difficult to keep up the demand and meeting customer needs. Often companies are falling behind on their logistics operations. With regards to instore retailers it could be the stock they have available which is not adequate. For an online retailer, such as Amazon it could be the ability to maintain the right stock levels and prepare the orders for delivery and getting them to customers as per the promised timeline.

A lot of the Black Friday sale is now done online, which has its own set of problems that come with it. For example, John Lewis said that its website was facing difficulties handling the number of visitors looking for deals. The same was the case with Tesco and Curry’s who met with shocking demand during that period.

To meet the demand of consumers many retailers start offering deals online from midnight to maximise shopping hours. This often-increased traffic to their website and gained momentum. This unexpected demand often lead to a slightly substandard experience for consumers as many were unable to access the website. But how does Black Friday promotions assist retailers. All it does is bring forward the Christmas season shopping, reducing consumer motivation to pay full price again.

Retailers such as Amazon, River Island, Currys PC World, and Debenhams have admitted that Black Friday has led to some disruption in deliveries. Often for firms its rather difficult to predict the demand accurately and are often then playing catch-up. The demand created then often leads to a major backlog of deliveries that continue to affect the Christmas period as well. Amazon has found it difficult to fulfill their Next Day delivery promise as well due to the increase volume of orders. Other retailers such as Ao.com had stopped its next day delivery service due to “increased demand over the weekend”. In addition to this, stores such as Currys/PC World, Argos, Shop Direct, Littlewoods, among others, also extended delivery periods. This also creates a backlog of deliveries affecting the Christmas period as well.

Delays are not just caused by retailers but also the logistics operators/delivery service operators are also overwhelmed during that period. In comparison to retailers it is all that more difficult for logistics operators to up their game as it would require a much larger investment into improving the infrastructure and investment into additional resources to cope with demand. Operators would require more real estate to store all the packages, more manpower, transportation resources etc which is not necessarily worth the investment for only a short period of excess demand in the year. There are hundreds of retailers but not as many logistics providers and thus the burden of the Black Friday sale is greater on logistics firms. Even if the retailer is able to get the packages out on time it does mean the packages will be delivered on time as logistics operators would have to also up the ante to cope with the increased demand.

Quality

When we look at the Black Friday phenomenon, we can evaluate quality based on customer service as well. The Black Friday event is often overwhelming for retailers to cope with, especially in-store. Long queues, waiting periods, delays, lack of customer attention are all aspects that affect customer experience. It becomes very easy for customers to then have a negative experience leading to poor brand image in the eyes of the customer which affects repeat business for the retailer.

Dependability

One of the key issues the online retailers face is an overwhelming number of visitors on websites, through mobile apps which often creates technical difficulties for retailers. Often the reason for this is that most websites don’t have the required infrastructure to handle the increased traffic. Companies such as JD Sports, Debenhams and Game have been among the few affected. Many retailers have not upgraded their infrastructure to cope with the increased demand. This has not been the case only in 2018 but since 2016. What then happens is that customers get frustrated and move on to another website to empty their wallets leading to a loss of potential revenue for companies such as JD Sports, Debenhams and Game.

Cost

One of the key aspects affecting retailers during Black Friday is the aspect of cost. As most products are on sale during those days’ customers are inclined to buy several item’s they like however intend only on keeping a few that are most suitable. This often leads to a lot of returns leading to cost for retailers to be borne. According to Vicky Broch, director of data innovation at Rebound. “unwanted items will cost UK retailers over GBP 362m over the Black Friday weekend alone”. Returns rate is affected most in clothing with around 50% and about 5-10% for electronics. The concern with electronics is that once they are opened, they cannot be sold as new.

The consumer usually does not pay anything as most retailers have provided incentives whereby the cost of returns is borne by the retailer. If a consumer has a poor experience with their returns, then there is a high chance they will not shop from the same retailer again.

To try and tackle this retailer’s such as Asos have implemented strategies to minimize returns with the implementation of the “fit assistant” that combines purchase history along with height and weight to suggest the correct fit. Another strategy is “Boris – buy online and return in store”. This really affects retailers that cannot afford additional investment in logistics.

When we evaluate the above four objectives based on the findings mentioned it can be analyzed that by participating in the Black Friday phenomenon retailers are not better off. If at all it manages to put them in a worse off situation. With Christmas just around the corner by participating in Black Friday retailers are destroying their margins along with the possibility of closing the year on a high and hitting sales targets. Heavily discounting items prior to the Christmas season at a time when disposable income is increasing by 4.4% may not be a smart move. It also puts off the customer from paying full price for the same product in the future.

The investment into coping with the Black Friday event along with the cost of returns when prices are already heavily discounted leaves very minimal profit margins. In the case of clothing and apparel this could still be acceptable but with more expensive items such as electronics returns could hit retailers’ profits rather heavily.

To top it off the increased demand often leads to a lower level of customer attention and thus satisfaction, because of this customer’s will end up spending their money at on competing products and services affecting the retailers brand image.

All in all, there are no tradeoffs for any retailer here. There are only tradeoffs when there is some benefit in it for the retailer but in this scenario the retailer is only decreasing their profit margins and brand image.

Supply Chain Management for Firms during Black Friday

The key question is What is supply chain management (SCM)?

It is the management of the supply chain activities beginning from the sourcing of the raw materials to create any product/or service until it reaches the consumer. It is a process created to ensure that conscious efforts are made to develop most effective and efficient ways to run the process. This covers everything from the development of a product, productions, transportations and logistics as well as the IT needed to co-ordinate these activities until it reaches its destination.

Supply chain is not limited to one organization but is the combined effort of multiple organizations to ensure that the product/service reaches the customer.

One of the key areas of operations management that most firms are affected during Black Friday is inventory management. Why do we need inventory management for smooth operations? Earlier Black Friday was just a day, which is now an entire weekend. This means that there is increased pressure on retailers to satisfy the demand of consumers. Often firms get this part of the process wrong. Too high an inventory often leads to wastage of storage space, deterioration of goods over time, ties up working capital etc. For this reason, it became increasingly important for retailers to have the right amount of inventory to run an efficient operation.

What really assists here is that the digital and physical operations of the supply chain must be integrated and seamless. Planning for such an event cannot just be done in months. Retailers needs to plan 12-15 months in advance to cope with the event. Often firms such as Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, JD Sports, among others have taken it rather lightly and faced the consequences. This could lead to loss of revenue and the closure of several outlets like Debenhams is facing now as they were not able to capitalize during a peak season. There are several aspects to planning for such an event from forecasting the demand, contracts with multiple logistics providers, freight carriers, inventory planning and shipping.

One thing to ensure is having the right inventory and avoiding a stock out at a time consumer’s are looking to spend. Stock-outs means that the consumer will end up spending their money at another store. This has often proven difficult for retailers as they not try to balance inventory within stores and online. Retailers are now increasing availability online and also offering lower prices as this allows them to spend less on logistics by distributing product within multiple stores and selling online. By having more product in one place it allows for efficient use of resources and greater control. This also helps curb costs as less of shop space is used to stock goods and less manpower is required to manage the inventory in store.

What can a retailer do to ensure that it is not losing out on revenue due to IT issues and how it can be used to an advantage?

When retailers plan for such an event well in advance it allows them to test all the tech to make sure that all the functionality of the apps and website is functioning properly. About 70% purchases are made online. If there are problems with the websites and apps a major chunk of revenue can be lost. Customers are in a hurry to make their purchases during this period so if the tech isn’t working customers are not looking to wait, they will move on to a competing product.

Many retailers are still heavily reliant on traditional systems and processes to plan their omni channel supply chains. This is still driven by the traditional spreadsheet-based plans, which are not appropriate to manage the supply chain for large retailers during such an event. The right operations management and supply chain programs need to be implemented to allow a smoother functioning of operations.

Retailers could also implement an omni channel planning platform. It helps improve visibility, understand demand and allocate inventory accordingly to the desired locations thereby reducing shipments and cross transfers. This would help retailers improve efficiency and decrease costs. Retailers unable to do this suffer and struggle to meet consumer demand, while those who incorporate this will be able to boost sales, margins and decrease inventory costs.

Transportation and logistics contracts

Often retailers use the same courier and delivery service providers as they do around the year. The problem is that during the rest of the year these providers can fulfill the tasks but may not be able to cope the burden of the Black Friday weekend. Retailers need to evaluate their contracts and assess alternative that they are certain can deliver. Transportation and logistics make up for a very large percentage of the supply chain costs and it is vital that money is well spent and efficiently. If the main provider fails, the alternatives could be used to deliver on the promise to consumers.

The Future

The penultimate step in continuous improvement is an evaluation. This means that retailers should look to go through all the problems that popped u, understanding the reasons for it and preparing a solution to ensure that this would not occur in the future and most importantly putting it into practice. It is imperative to prepare a very structured analysis of the overall performance during Black Friday. Questions such as: were our forecasts correct? Was out supply chain in order? Any issues with sourcing, manufacturing and transporting goods? Was the inventory managed well? Etc. At the same time its important to compare the answers to these questions with how competitors fared. There is a good chance someone has done something better and the idea is to implement that within the operations management strategy for future. This is not really a complicated task and helps with not just Black Friday, but it also improves the process generally and provides the capability to handle such future events easily. It is not about understanding the problem but coming up with solutions and implementing it is what makes the difference.

References

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Black Friday Shopping Essay

Black Fridays are usually a very exciting season each year. Previous seasons of black Fridays I have witnessed usually got me very expectant of the next season. Regardless of whenever it holds, be sure it must be a day after Thanksgiving which this year’s date falls on the 27th of November, 2020. The reactions and concerns from people as regards this year’s big shopping day have been tied around what the after-effects of the pandemic will be on the upcoming Black Friday. But I’m left with no doubt that this year’s big shopping day “black Friday at Home Depot” is going to turn out special so you should expect plenty of good deals and prepare ahead of time.

Discover all you need to expect and prepare for this coming black Friday. I will be showing you practical tips to make the most of the deals, how to navigate this shopping experience, and choosing the best retailer “Home Depot” as your plug will be the most helpful decision you’d ever make.

There are plenty of exciting deals you could grab at the Home Depot during this black Friday. Yes! You’re sure to make big savings with good deals shopping at Home Depot this black Friday and Cyber Monday throughout the week.

Being one of the biggest retailers known for their classy and quality services on home improvement, large appliances, and construction products, Home Depot is prepared to give you the best deal for your black Friday shopping experience. This is to see that you maximize your holiday dollar and shopping time wisely. Isn’t that amazing?

Home Depot will be launching real-time the best deals covering every twist and turn of the black Friday deal race thereby rounding up the best deals by category and store. Here is the foreplay to help you get organized for your holiday shopping ahead of time.

So far, Home Depot has been my favorite retailer aside from other stores not only just for black Fridays but also for my normal shopping time. Because they give massive support to their customers, especially in discounts and promos, and they’ve got all my home needs covered under these categories smart home furniture decorations, tools, hardware, appliances, Tablets, and clothing, with attractive discounts I purchase all of these from home depots. You can enjoy this too.

This season’s black Friday, I look forward to seeing deals on sale like the home Decorator Collection Canonbury Ebony Wood Buffet Table with Glass Doors, 3R Studios White Terra Cotta Cachepot, and Noble House Njord Vintage Light Brown Leather Vintage Club Chair with a good discount. I am excited.

Home depots got attractive discounts, and are set to offer two months of black Friday deals starting from November through December. However, they do not include coupons in their ads for black Fridays but prefer to cut down on prices across boards.

Every piece of information you come across before black Friday is an important pointer to you, so you shouldn’t neglect them. Use them to do your findings before the shopping day. Here are some tips you should consider while preparing.

• Watch out for Ads that pop up on your phone app, coupons, newspapers, and fliers that get to your hands, they alert you on what to expect, inform you about retailers’ available deals and plans, and help you make proper decisions as well as prepare ahead of time.
• With all indications and predictions for this year’s Black Friday, there will be a lot of measures set up to minimize physical crowd shopping and therefore great deals will be open for online shopping. Most online shopping will come with lots of discounts, Specials, doorbuster prices, and gifts. Such offers come on the Eve of black Fridays. Some shopping malls may likely do the same, so use your app, coupon codes, Ads, and newspapers relevant to this event to track these special deals, compare prices, search for the best routes, and make your moves ahead of time.
• Stay budget-conscious because deals can blow off your mind. This is a practical way to help you navigate a better shopping experience and save big. Be well informed about store policies having your promo codes and coupons as you walk into the stores.
• Another way to score up for the real best deals is to look for slick deals and exclusive black Friday pages online. This helps you discover and leverage better deals, keeps you notified on the latest deals, keeps you hooked with your favorite store, information on price sort, and more.

Black Fridays 2020 indeed promises to be an outstanding big shopping day with high opportunities to get the best deals and save up big for your holiday shopping. This depends largely on how you maximize those tips listed above. Why not make things easy for you? With Home Depot, you’re sure to go home very happy.