Black Friday–the day after Thanksgiving–is a huge shopping day (according to Wikipedia, the name comes from the idea that on this day retailers get back “in the black” after operating “in the red”). Last year, consumers spent about $8B on Black Friday alone, driven largely by deep discounts on a range of products.
Most traditional retailers like to tightly control information about Black Friday sales. For example, disclosing promotions too far in advance might dissuade customers looking for a particular item from showing up (if, for example, a desired product isn’t on sale); also, if competitors knew details about product discounts, they would be able to respond more effectively.
The NYTimes has a good story describing a few third-party web sites that publish BF sale data (including specific product pricing details) well before the retailers planned to do so.
It’s particularly interesting to see how some retailers respond. According to BF2005.com (which claims to be the “official” Black Friday site–others vying for the title include Gottadeal.com and BlackFridayAds.com), Office Depot sent in a “cease and desist” order demanding that the site immediately remove all Office Depot advertising. Disney, on the other hand, chose to react differently, and emailed a press release to the BF2005.com site with sale information and details.
I think the Times has it right: this is another example of how the Web shifts the balance of power from companies to consumers. It’s unlikely to reverse anytime soon, so smart retailers will adapt their strategy and work with independent sites rather than against them.
Your post is on target. Keep it up.
Left by Ice Cream Franchise on October 3rd, 2006