More days are starting to feel like Black Friday

The Monday after
Thanksgiving has become Cyber Monday online.

By YLAN Q. MUI

WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — For two hours, Steve Brown stood in line outside of the Best Buy in Gaithersburg, Md., with a single objective: to score the 46-inch Samsung flat-panel TV at a blockbuster $700 discount.

He was not alone. Roughly 300 people crowded outside Best Buy’s doors as an icy wind whipped through the crowd — a common sight on the day after Thanksgiving, when stores stage massive sales to get shoppers revved up for the holidays. But this was nearly two weeks before Thanksgiving, and the frenzy had already begun.

“I’m not a crowd person,” said Brown, of Reston, Va. “But the savings on the TVs were enough to drive me out here.”

Once heralded as the symbolic kickoff to the holiday shopping season, Black Friday is sacred no more. Retailers this year began touting door-buster discounts weeks before anyone thought about roasting a turkey. And the deals will continue long after the leftovers are eaten, with online retailers and even infomercials touting events to prolong the hype.

Concern that shoppers will rein in their spending this season is driving many of these promotions, several industry experts said. The National Retail Federation forecast that retail sales in November and December would grow 4 percent — the smallest gain since 2002 and below the 10-year average of 4.8 percent. A survey by Discover Financial Services released this week showed that 55 percent of consumers said they would spend less on holiday shopping this year.

The less money shoppers have to spend, the more aggressive the competition becomes for their business.

Wal-Mart led the way, slashing prices as early as October in such key categories as toys, home and apparel. Then on Nov. 2, it unveiled five more door-buster deals to mark the opening of its in-store Christmas shops. This week, it announced that secret specials would be available in stores Saturday and Sunday.

Best Buy had exclusive shopping events for members of its loyalty program, Reward Zone, at about 70 stores Nov. 11, nearly two weeks before Black Friday.

Black Friday got its nickname because it marked the beginning of the season when retailers traditionally begin making money, or went from being in the red to the black.

But it seems that one day of no-holds-barred shopping is no longer enough. Online retailers have claimed the Monday after Thanksgiving as Cyber Monday and are planning incentives such as free shipping to boost customer traffic. According to a poll sponsored by trade organization Shop.org, nearly three-quarters of online retailers said they have scheduled promotions for the day, up from less than half last year.

Even infomercials are jumping on the holiday bandwagon with Info-Mania on Sunday two days after Thanksgiving. They are targeted at viewers who may have gone through the Black Friday blitz and are relaxing at home in front of the TV, said Barbara Tulipane, president of the Electronic Retailing Association, a trade group for direct retail sales.