Just Another Manic Friday

November 27. The Day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday.

It wasn’t long ago that Black Friday stood unchallenged and unflappable as the make-or-break epicenter of the annual retail calendar. Then this thing called the Internet made getting great deals 24/7 a lot easier than waking up at three in the morning and standing in the dark and cold with a horde of frantic shoppers still digesting their pumpkin pie.

Non-Stop Door Buster

Mainstream brick-and-mortar retailers rushed into competitive hyper-drive. First, many decided to get a jump on Black Friday by opening on Thanksgiving (oh, the nerve!). And now they figure, why not make the months of November and December one non-stop door buster?

Consumers are biting. A survey by The NPD Group reveals that half of all holiday shoppers planned to begin holiday shopping before Thanksgiving, a 6% increase over 2014; and most plan to continue shopping into December.

“Consumers don’t have a need to seek the deals out on Black Friday the way they did during past holiday seasons. Now the deals come to them, early and often,” said Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry analyst. “With consumers shopping earlier and more going online, it will be critical for brick retailers to take action in order to compete with the click players.” 

Then comes the startling announcement by REI, the member-cooperative retailer of outdoor recreation goods, that it won’t open the doors of its 140-plus stores on Black Friday, giving its employees an extra paid holiday. 

Crazy Or Genius

Call it crazy or call it genius (the line between the two is often quite slim), but REI management must be confident the retailer can make up lost Black Friday revenue across what has become a protracted holiday shopping season.  At the very least, REI— under a genuine banner of social responsibility that should appeal to its core outdoorsy customers, including lots of Millennials— has generated more national publicity and member recruitment material than one frenzied day of loss leaders could buy. (It is worth noting that REI’s online store won’t be taking Black Friday off.) 

The risk to privately held REI of such rebellion in a follow-the-pack retail arena might not be as high as it would to larger, publicly traded retailers. Smaller, independent retailers operating in the shadow of the big boxes and malls on Black Friday could consider a similar goodwill lockout, but they have Small Business Saturday as a backup.

Sleep Better 

Black Friday remains a vital moment on the retail calendar for many. But with fourth quarter sales and profits becoming less dependent on the day after Thanksgiving, retailers capitalizing on this should sleep better and maybe a little later on November 27. Just another busy Friday during the holidays.