Retailers, Suppliers Make Strong Case to Shop Online Black Friday

Bargain-crazed consumers who don’t want to brave the cold and midnight hours Friday will have plenty of alternatives for shopping from the comfort of their own homes. In a year when retailers’ decisions to start Black Friday the instant Thanksgiving is over has resulted in some degree of consumer pushback, those who don’t venture out won’t have trouble landing their mouse on a deal. They may even score free shipping in the process, as Target, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Walmart, Sears, Tiger Direct, Buy.com, and others have instituted free shipping with minimum purchases.

Retrevo found “a lot more people are going online this year to shop,” said Andrew Eisner, director of content at Retrevo.com. Although record numbers of shoppers are expected in stores this year due to the extended Black Friday hours, “we see lot of people deferring to online,” Eisner told us. Part of that is due to a growing savviness among shoppers, he said, saying consumers have realized that their chances of snatching up spectacular limited-quantity doorbuster items “are very slim."

Eisner mentioned the consumer pushback that arose when Target, Best Buy and others announced plans to open on midnight rather than 4 a.m., cutting into Thanksgiving time for workers and shoppers alike, but he doesn’t believe the initial outcry will translate to the bottom line. “I don’t think anyone will protest,” he told us. “When you're presented with a $79 TV, politics be damned.” A Target employee who collected more than 190,000 signatures in an online petition that sought to have hours snipped back to 4 a.m. delivered his petition to Target corporate earlier this week to no avail. A Target spokeswoman confirmed to us late Tuesday that the company has no plans to change its midnight opening. Tina Schiel, executive vice president of stores at Target, said in a blog post, “We respect the right of all of our team members to express their opinions and … Target actively seeks feedback from our team members. Opening at midnight on Black Friday wasn’t a decision we took lightly. We heard from our guests and talked to our teams, seeking to understand how changing the hours would impact them. We heard overwhelming support for the earlier opening. We made the decision, put our plans in place, and now we're gearing up to open our doors on Black Friday,” she said.

Amazon doesn’t plan to lose business to brick-and-mortar stores and has been running Black Friday deals all week. Wednesday deals included Philips headphones discounted 64 percent to $35 and a Belkin coaxial cable slashed 89 percent to $5. An HP PhotoSmart printer rang in at $60, 40 percent off, and an Acer laptop was marked down $100 to $329.

Manufacturers aren’t relying just on retailers for all the Black Friday action. Several are announcing their own company-sponsored promotions on their websites and/or in stores. Barnes & Noble kicked up its promotional activity Wednesday, announcing a Black Friday special on the Limited Edition Nook Simple Touch reader, which some retailers, including Best Buy, had already discounted $20 to $79 in Black Friday promotions. A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman told us the $20 discount only applies in stores, “while supplies last,” on the Limited Edition version, which has a white stripe around the outside of the device. The $79 price matches that of Kindle’s entry-level E Ink reader.

No other Nook promotions were announced, which could come back to haunt Barnes & Noble, whose recently announced Tablet is already $50 higher than the hot Amazon Fire. According to a study by Parks Associates released Wednesday, 49 percent of broadband households intending to purchase a CE product this holiday season planned to pick Apple’s $499 9.7-inch 16GB iPad 2 compared with 51 percent of broadband households opting for Amazon’s 7-inch Fire for $199. According to Parks, consumers 45 or older prefer the Kindle Fire, while those with higher household incomes and higher education prefer the iPad. By brand, of households that plan to purchase a tablet by year end, 42 percent said they'd choose an Apple iPad, 13 percent said Kindle, 5 percent voted for HP and Samsung models and 4 percent opted for Barnes & Noble, a spokeswoman for Parks told us.

Panasonic teased consumers Wednesday with the promise of employee prices on Black Friday. Prices will be revealed Friday at midnight and will run through 11:59 p.m. on Cyber Monday, Panasonic said. In addition to the overall discount program, the Panasonic website will offer “special values on certain items” with savings of up to 50 percent off suggested retail prices, it said. Free shipping on the “vast majority of products” will be included, Panasonic said.

According to Judah Zeigler, director of e-commerce for Panasonic, discounts will be “in full compliance with the Panasonic MAP policy and the promotion “isn’t about products that are ‘over-inventoried.'” Instead, he said, “for four days, we're offering the public the opportunity to enjoy ‘you pay what we pay’ pricing,” he told us. Zeigler said the company ran a similar promotion last year, and “thousands of consumers” participated. This year the company is offering “even more products during the promotional period,” he said, promising “something for everyone.” In response to our question about projections for Q4 electronics sales, Zeigler said, “The growth of the Panasonic direct-to-consumer e-Commerce business is a strategic priority for Panasonic. As such, we are looking forward to strong growth, not just in Q4, but as we move forward into 2012 and beyond,” he said.

Microsoft announced its own online Black Friday sale, too, Wednesday, with sales prices kicking in when Thanksgiving ends. Deals include a Samsung RC512 laptop, cropped $300 to $499; a Sony S137GX laptop discounted $400 to $599; a Kinect Sensor Bundle for $99; up to $200 off on an Xbox Ultimate bundle and $20 off select Xbox games, it said.