Black Friday, or Bleak Friday?

http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14973087

Summary

Black Friday is the traditional start of the holiday shopping season in America, which falls on November 27th of this year. People start queuing outside shops to be the first to get their hands on an amazing item that is selling way below retail price. Black Friday is also an attempt for retailers to get back on their feet if they are having a bad year. This is the most important time of the year for retailers as they really look for a boost in sales. Even though nowadays online retailing is really growing big, it only accounts for 6% of all retail sales in America. Online retailing is a real threat for conventional retailing as people order stuff online and by doing that, it is hampering sales of Bricks-and-mortar shops.

Connection

The book "Marketing Today" does not include the nonstore retailer Online Retailing, and it is becoming a big part of our lives these days. We rely on buying stuff off the internet rather than going to an actual store as it saves money and saves time. Retailers like Factory Outlets are also losing business because of online retailers. Even though factory outlets sell stuff for cheap, people would still rather sit at home, go on the internet and order whatever they want to buy. The most hard hit of all retailers would be specialty stores. Stores that sell specific products such as books or certain type of clothing is really hit by the recession and the emergence of online retailing. On the other hand Department Stores like Sears, The Bay, get a lot out of Black Friday. Sadly there is no such thing as Black Friday in Canada, all we have is Boxing Day and that is practically at the end of the year in late December.

Reflection

To me, this a really sad situation that the retailers are in. They have to rely on days like Black Friday or even Boxing Day here in Canada to get sales. Throughout the whole year they just lay back and wait for customers to slowly trickle by.
This article also digs deep into how the nonstore retailer, online retailing, is really putting salt on the wounds of conventional retailers. After the recession sales for the stores haven't been that great anyway and with online retailing growing so fast, it seems dark days are in the horizon for bricks-and-mortar shops.