Saturday, December 21, 2013

A Look Back: Black Friday Fiasco


This year’s Black Friday tradition seemed to step on the toes of another popular tradition: Thanksgiving. Stores such as Wal-Mart, Kmart, Macy’s, Kohl’s, etc. opened on Thanksgiving evening starting as early as 5PM. It seems as though the majority of shoppers were not thrilled about Black Friday imposing on their holiday. See Below:


As you can see, consumers were going back and forth about the early door busters this year, but the numbers don’t lie. It turns out the stores that opened on Thanksgiving night sacrificed their sales on Friday. A survey conducted by The National Retail Federation estimated spending fell by 2.9% this year.

Besides the drop in profit, stores also have to worry more and more about mayhem in their stores. Every year there are stories about fights over the last inexpensive television set or iPad, but Black Thursday only increased the violence. Stores such as Wal-Mart acquired popular hashtags like #Walmartfights and #Brawlmart which had thousands of tags overnight. Police activity and security had to be increased this year more than ever.


So the question is, is all of this worth it for the retailers? Is it worth it for the consumers? We want to know your opinion, so comment below!

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Nicole Leo.

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