Black Friday is Back

Black Friday… the day consumers live for and employees just want over with.

A non-consumerist society would balk at the idea of Black Friday. Oh, I can only wish. There is a visiting Scotsman staying at my house currently who has never heard of the day before, oh how I envy him.

Mindless consumerism. Buy it because it is on sale at a price it may never be at again. It’s hardly worth it.

And yet (I’m done complaining now) Black Friday is our SECOND busiest day of the year. Any guesses as to our first? December 26^th. The Return Day.

I know, for someone in the industry, I don’t seem to be supporting our economy. To be true, the economy is too big for its own good, and we have to constantly spend just to sustain it. Doesn’t sound like a brilliant plan for the landfills, the oceans, or our natural resources.

So what am I getting my family this year for Christmas? Sure, I bought a few things from my place of work, but everyone is getting a recycled gift this year: Handmade (by yours truly) mug cozies from thrift store sweaters. Cost me $17 to make 13 gifts. Try doing that on Black Friday.

Deals at the Door Make A Businessman Poor

I’m just to page 30 of the book and I have come across a faulty mistake dozens of retailers make every day. The sale rack belongs in one place: the back, and with good reason. Many retailers during the summer will put the sale rack just outside the front door to lure people in. It gets the unsightly muss of non-cohesive merchandise off their selling floor, and gives people a reason to come up and look. However, if people find nothing of interest on the sale rack (which happens more often than not) they will never bother entering the store. If they are the type to look for a deal (which is the customer you are trying to lure inside with this rack on the street) they will rifle through, find nothing, and never come in because they believe, as they should, that everything else in the store is full-price.

On another note, tucking the sale rack just inside the front door is also a no-no. This is what was directly discussed in “Why We Buy”. The difference is that those people who do enter the store are immediately taken in by the nearby sale rack. This can go south just as fast as having it outside if they find nothing. But if they DO find something, they are much less likely to buy anything else. People don’t even bother to look around at full-price when they think they can get a good deal.

The best place for the sale rack is in the rear of the store. Not hidden and ashamed, not hard to get to, but nonchalantly in the caboose region. This way, anyone looking for a deal will at least have to look around before they come to the sale rack. It draws people inside, keeps them inside, giving a salesperson time to begin a conversation and instigate the selling process. Sale racks at the front door = less business. Simple as that.