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December 16, 2009
Amy Yakubowski
Black Friday– the day bargain shoppers wait for every year is as crazy a scene as most would think. It’s the start of the shopping season where electronics, appliances and holiday gifts hit their lowest prices.
Buyers wake up at the break of dawn to participate in this national phenomenon. Most stores open at 5 AM and prepare for the chaos of shoppers lined up outside the store. With hundreds of people waiting to get a “hot” item, shoving and arguing over items is common and fights often surface.
Black Friday is an experience in itself. Senior Krissy Sokol witnessed it first hand.
“Waking up a 4:00 AM wasn’t too bad,” Sokol said. “I definitely needed coffee though.”
With a quick stop at Starbucks, Sokol arrived at Chapel Hill’s Target 15 minutes before the doors opened.
“I didn’t think there would be as big of a line as there was,” Sokol said. “But it was wrapped along the side of the store.”
When 5:00 AM hit, the line started to shuffle into the store.
“Not even five minutes in, we heard a lady say there was almost a fight in the electronics section,” Sokol said. “I knew Black Friday was intense, but I didn’t think it was that aggressive.”
With a few purchases, Sokol headed home around 7:00 AM.
“I’m not a big shopper, but I wanted to experience Black Friday for myself with my friends,” Sokol said. “It was entertaining for the most part with all the crazy shoppers and crazy long lines, but I was so happy to go home and nap.”
But if waking up early, dealing with aggressive shoppers or getting knocked around a store doesn’t seem intriguing, there’s always Cyber Monday– the Monday following Black Friday.
It’s a kick-off to the start of seasonal online shopping. Cyber Monday is the busiest day of the year for retail electronic commerce in the United States. Shop.org named it when research showed that 77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004.
As of this year, about 700 retailers offered discounts on Shop.org. Traffic at online retailers rose eight percent on Monday, bringing early holiday cheers. This year, shoppers spent an average of $180.03 per item online, compared to last year’s $170.19 per item, almost a ten percent increase of item per order. Market research firm, ComScore, estimates that online retail sales will grow three percent to $28.8 billion this holiday season, which will be beneficial to the economy.
So whether it’s waking up at the crack of dawn to jump on a store’s lowest prices, or sitting home on a computer ordering items online, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are early Christmas gifts to manufacturers and store owners in our struggling economy.
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