Nov. 28, 2024 "Black Friday sales are designed to give you FOMO. Don't let them": Today I found this article by Nisha Patel on CBC. I like this article because there is a part about psychology:
Black Friday is here, and it's hard to miss. Posters scream about big sales while emails flood inboxes — warning the savings are for one day only. It's become one of the busiest shopping days of the year. But experts say it's also a time when impulse spending can spiral out of control.
Canadians' overall holiday spending is forecast to rise 10 per cent this year compared to last, to about $1,478 per household,
according to a survey by the consulting firm Deloitte.
Many consumers are looking for deals, with 48 per cent of those surveyed saying they plan to shop on Black Friday.
Annie Taurasi, who was doing some shopping at Sherway Gardens in Toronto on Monday, says she's buying food and skin care products and gift cards for her family this year.
She knows how good it feels to get a deal.
"I feel accomplished, really, like I could spend twice as much now," she said.
But another shopper at the same east end mall said she often feels bombarded by all the advertising.
"You get two or three emails from the same company a day, so sometimes I find it a bit too much," said Michelle Latchman.
Ying Zhu, an associate professor of marketing at the University of British Columbia, explains how those ads are designed to
tap into consumer emotions
and encourage buying.
Red text, like on Amazon's Black Friday deals, triggers excitement and action,
while yellow, like Walmart uses in its stores, is linked to happiness and affordability, she says.
Others use a countdown clock or phrases like "one day only."
They "generate a sense of urgency," Zhu said
— triggering a fear of missing out (a.k.a. FOMO).
"But the reality is there will always be some deal.
So if you don't get this one, later on you may even get a better one.
In order to be a smart consumer,
we have to prepare ourselves to deal with this."
Social media is adding another level of pressure
and increasingly shaping shopping decisions,
Zhu said.
Sometimes consumers feel so connected to an influencer, they trust the recommendations completely.
"Companies use influencers
to establish trust and emotion
to make those spill over to their brand
and spill over to their products,"
she said.
Those are much easier sales to make than if the company were to try to persuade the shopper on its own,
she says.
Meanwhile, personalized shopping links
and instant access to online marketplaces
make unplanned spending very easy.
And often, the "retail therapy" is a quick fix for stressed-out consumers who want to boost their mood.
Some financial planners like Natasha Knox, founder of Alaphia Financial Wellness in Vancouver,
are increasingly focusing on the psychological aspects of money management to help clients.
"Financial therapy helps you think better, act better, communicate better and behave better around money," she said.
Knox says it's essential that consumers to try to pinpoint the reason behind their urge to shop.
"Often it's that we're trying to not feel something,
and the act of spending
or buying something
allows us to temporarily push that feeling away,"
she said.
While getting a deal may feel good,
not shopping just for the sake of it might end up feeling even better, Knox says.
She recommends finding other ways to boost one's mood.
"Turn off the phone…
step out of the house,
step out of the office
into nature,
talk to a friend.
I would say that the more time a person spends in front of a screen,
the more susceptible they are to the inundation with the messaging and the advertising.
It's just really omnipresent."
That said, Zhu, the marketing professor, says there still are good deals to be had on Black Friday. She suggests consumers do their price research ahead of time so they can determine whether the sale offers a true discount.
"The more we buy, the more we want to buy," she said. "So that's why I'm saying it's very, very important we have a plan, we have a shopping list and we stick to our budget. So we won't be driven by this emotion."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/black-friday-sales-tactics-1.7395276
Nov. 29, 2024 "Retailers bank on Black Friday to energize bargain-hungry holiday shoppers": Today I found this article by Anne D’innocenzio on BNN Bloomberg:
Department stores, shopping malls and merchants — big and small
— see the day after Thanksgiving as a way to
energize shoppers
and to get them into physical stores
at a time when many gift-seekers do the bulk of their browsing and buying online.
Enough traditionalists must still be around, because Black Friday remains the biggest day of the year for retail foot traffic in the U.S., according to retail technology company Sensormatic Solutions.
“Black Friday is still an incredibly important day for retailers,” Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic, said.
“It’s important for them to be able to get shoppers into their store
to show them that experience of what it’s like to browse and touch and feel items.
It also can be a bellwether for retailers on what to expect for the rest of the holiday season.”
At Macy’s Herald Square in Manhattan, there was a steady stream of shoppers as of 7:30 a.m. on Friday, an hour and a half after the flagship store opened. Discounts included 40% to 50% off most boots and shoes. The prices of many handbags also were listed as half-off.
Keressa Clark, 50, and her daughter Morghan, 27, were visiting New York from Wilmington, North Carolina, and arrived at the store at 6:15 a.m. “We set the alarm for 5 and got out the door by 6,” Morghan Clark said. “We don’t have a Macy’s where we are from. I am actually shocked to see so many Black Friday deals because so many things are online.”
Clark, who works as a nurse practitioner, said she was feeling better about the economy because of President-elect Donald Trump’s pending return to the White House and plans to spend $2,000 this holiday season, about $500 more than a year ago because of her improved optimism.
She said she would not mind if prices are higher next year as a result of the tariffs on foreign-made goods Trump has pledged to implement. “Anything that can encourage production in the U.S. I am all for it, “ Clark said. “I am OK with paying higher prices.”
In the U.S., analysts envision a solid holiday shopping season, though perhaps not as robust as last year’s, with many shoppers
under financial pressure
and cautious with their discretionary spending
despite the easing of inflation.
Retailers are even more under the gun to get shoppers in to
buy early
and in bulk
since there are five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minnesota, hoped to surpass the 12,000 shoppers who arrived last year within the first hour of the giant shopping center’s 7 a.m. opening. This year, the mall is giving the first 200 people in line at the center’s north entrance a $25 gift card.
“People come to get the deals, but more importantly,
they come for the excitement,
the energy,
the traditions
surrounding Black Friday,”
Jill Renslow, Mall of America’s chief business development and marketing officer, said.
Target is offering an exclusive book devoted to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and a bonus edition of her “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” album that only will be available in stores on Black Friday before customers can buy them online starting Saturday.
Best Buy has introduced an extended-release version of the doorbuster, the limited-time daily discounts that for years were all the rage — and sometimes the spark for actual brawls.
The nation’s largest consumer electronics chain has released doorbuster deals every Friday since Nov. 8 and plans to continue the weekly promotion through Dec. 20.
“(Stores) are very hungry for Black Friday to do well,” Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at market research firm Circana, said. “They recognize that they’re not going to clobber and win big growth in online because the pie has gotten so competitive. They have to find a way to win in the stores.”
Impulse purchases
and self-gifting
are a potential area for big sales growth,
and business isn’t going to increase without them,
Cohen said.
Shoppers are three times more likely to buy on impulse at a physical store than online,
according to Circana research.
The National Retail Federation predicted that shoppers would increase their spending in November and December by between 2.5% and 3.5% over the same period a year ago.
During the 2023 holiday shopping season, spending increased 3.9% over 2022.
So far this holiday season, online sales have beaten expectations, according to Adobe Digital Insights, a division of software company Adobe.
U.S. consumers spent $77.4 billion online from Nov. 1 to Nov. 24,
9.6% more than during the same period last year.
Adobe predicted an 8.4% increase for the full season.
Despite the early sales, better bargains are coming with Black Friday, according to Adobe.
Analysts consider the five-day Black Friday weekend, which includes Cyber Monday, a key barometer of shoppers’ willingness to spend for the rest of the season.
Vivek Pandya, the lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said shoppers are paying more attention to discounts than last year, and their focus on bargain-hunting will drive what sells and when.
For example, Thanksgiving Day is the best time to shop online to get the deepest discount on
sporting goods,
toys,
furniture
and appliances,
according to Adobe’s analysis.
But Black Friday is the best time to buy TVs online.
People shopping for televisions earlier in the season found discounts that averaged 10.8%,
while waiting until this Friday is expected to yield 24% discounts,
Adobe Digital Insights said.
Cyber Monday, however, is expected to be the best time to buy
clothing
and gadgets like phones and computers online.
Electronics discounts peaked at 10.9% off the suggested manufacturer’s price between Nov. 1 and Nov. 24
but are expected to hit 30% off on Cyber Monday,
Adobe said.
Across the board, Black Friday weekend discounts should peak at
30% on Cyber Monday
and then go down to around 15%,
according to Adobe’s research.
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