Tag: Retail

The Death Throes of Black Friday

Black Friday as we know it is beginning to die.  With retailers pushing sales and specials earlier in November, it is looking like the event of Black Friday is losing its significance as a holiday shopping day.  When Cyber Monday came on the scene several years ago, buyers discovered they could wait a few days, avoid the crowds, and still get great specials, all ordered from their desk at work.

Black Friday is so named because it is the official start of the holiday shopping season.  As crowds surged, retailers’ profits for the year went from the red to the black, ensuring that they would end the year on a high note.  To entice shoppers to go to their store over other stores, the retailers then began to offer insane specials and deals – a percentage off.  Then a larger percentage off.  Then a large percentage off and doorbuster deals.  People would literally end up hospitalized or dead trying to beat someone else to this amazing deals.

That money you saved on the 64″ flat-screen TV will go towards your hospital bills.

And when all this simply wasn’t enough for the corporate greed, retailers then began opening earlier and earlier on Black Friday, eventually going so far as to opening doors on Thanksgiving afternoon, desperate for shoppers and little caring that their employees just might want to spend that day with their families before the craziness that is working retail during the holidays begins.

We have seen major retailers shuttering their doors this year.  Sears and Toys R Us both come to mind, and these stores closed for specific reasons.  I know a couple of ladies from church who have a tradition of staying up late and shopping early, and one of the stores they’d hit in their dark-of-night mania was Toys R Us.  Their kids are tweens and teens now, but shopping will take on a very different look for those shoppers for whom TRU was a staple.

Over the course of the past week, I have seen Black Friday deals advertised on Amazon, Facebook, and Google.  I’ve seen such retailers as The Disney Store promoting the opportunity to take advantage of Black Friday specials this week.  You don’t even have to wait for the actual day of Black Friday anymore.  A few clicks and you’re done.  No crowds, no battling for parking at a bustling mall, no getting dressed in three layers of clothes to endure the chilling cold that typically is Black Friday morning while you wait for stores to open.

When stores discount their prices for Black Friday, something happens the week before:  They raise their prices.  A recent article at Business Insider states that retailers will increases prices from 8-23% in the days and weeks prior to Black Friday so they still will get their same profit margins.  I’ll be spending time in an upcoming blog post discussing that some more.

As this Friday comes up, what’s your plan of attack?  Will you be hitting the shops or clicking “buy now”?  Have you finished shopping?  Or do you shop artisans throughout the year?

Taking Care of the First Order of Business

It’s crazy this time of year, isn’t it?  Some of us are cooking for Thanksgiving, and some of that bunch are planning on hosting these fabulous Thanksgiving dinners and looking forward to celebrating with family.  (We’re all just going to hope that the host home is a “politics-free” zone – yet one more thing that’d make us quite grateful.)  For small business owners, we’re gearing up for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, and as small business owners, we still have our own homes to prepare for the holidays.

A year ago tomorrow, my wish for “a more relaxed Advent season” took a turn I wasn’t expecting.  I was hoping that my family would willingly pitch in and help take some of the load off my plate so I could play games on NORADtracks and feel less stressed.  Well, my family did step up and help with cooking, decorating, and my business – after I took a spill that resulted in a dislocated knee and six weeks in a leg brace.  Not some place I want to go again!

The thing is, we absolutely must take care of ourselves as business owners and parents.  I started a weight-loss regime of toning, walking, and calorie monitoring in early October.  (The weight loss numbers have been disappointing, but I’ve got new muscle tone, and my pants are getting unattractively loose.)  With huge orders to wrap and ship, classes to teach, a home to take care of, and gifts to make, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to find the time I need each day to get my exercise in.  I need that exercise, though!  My knees are happier, I sleep better, and I feel better overall.

Yesterday was one of those challenges.  There literally aren’t enough hours of daylight these days to get everything done.  I’d taught both girls their lessons, planned dinner, and the soaps…  Well, we won’t mention those.  The sink was full of dirty dishes waiting to go into the dishwasher, but I only had about an hour of light left and really wanted to get a walk in.  What to do, what to do?  And the fact that it was pretty chilly outside really didn’t help much.  I donned sneakers and grabbed a windbreaker out of the closet and headed out for my walk.

It was a great walk, though my legs were cold by the time I got back.  I waved at neighbors and had one lady tell me that it was “a blessing to see [me].”  I watched Christmas lights going up on a house down the street and witnessed the little boy’s excitement as he watched and “helped” his parents.  In one section of our neighborhood, one house had wreaths on the windows while the house across from them has an inflatable turkey.  I saw the first star appear in the clear evening sky.

As I struck out to take my walk, I knew I had a lot of work to do for my business, my home, and my family.  I have a lot of work to do for me, too, though.  If I don’t find the balance that allows me to take care of my self, then I really won’t be able to take care of everything else.  My knees will become sore and stiff again, I’ll be sleep-deprived, and I’ll lose some of this new energy.

My business mentor insists that we all treat ourselves to a post-holiday sales rush spa day – or a massage at the very least.  This year is looking like a good time to add that to my self-care.  In the meantime, though, these steps I’m taking now are helping me combat the stress before it starts.

Going into what I call “the silly season” in retail, I encourage my colleagues to work some self-care into their daily routines.  (We cannot live on Christmas cookies alone!)  For you folks – mostly women, admittedly – who are trying to do everything and be everything to all people, pause!  Take the time to make some memories and simply be with the ones you love.  Not every walk I take is intensely therapeutic; tonight I’ll be walking with my little girl who will watch squirrels and marvel at the Christmas decorations that are going up downtown, so a slower pace.  And that’s OK, because I still get my walk, and she and I are making some lovely memories.