Black Friday Sites, Retailers Begin Prepping for Holiday Promotions

A shortened holiday sales season could trigger an earlier start for promotional buzz this year as Black Friday falls on the latest possible date, Nov. 29, following an usually late Thanksgiving Day that’s sharing the calendar with the first day of Hanukkah.

With under two months to go until Black Friday, deals site BFAds has sent out its first email of the 2013 season -- “still waiting for the first Black Friday ad to leak” -- and warning of “hotter than Black Friday deals” to come. The latter “should minimize the rush and dependency to solely rely on Black Friday to get the best deals,” it said. Macy’s set the tone for the season when it announced Monday it would begin Black Friday sales in staggered time slots at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. One electronics product, a $49.99 Sharper Image “action camera,” is on Macy’s doorbuster list.

Kmart and Sears got a jump on other mass merchants this week, saying they'll make the holidays “especially rewarding” for the millions of Shop Your Way customers who account for 65 percent of sales for the two chains. Sears said more than 95 million items will be available via its Marketplace, and Kmart said its lease-to-own program will kick off Nov. 22, a week before Black Friday. Kmart’s lease-to-own program will be offered through WhyNotLeaseIt to give customers a “no credit-required way to take home products,” Kmart said.

"Black Friday is going to be longer and more aggressive than in the past,” Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis-NPD Group, told Consumer Electronics Daily. He forecast a bump in retailers’ combination online and in-store promotions and predicted Black Friday sales activity will begin early in Thanksgiving week. “It’s going to start on Monday or Tuesday and run all the way through Cyber Monday,” Baker said.

But aggressive Black Friday hawking this year will be as much about keeping ahead of last year’s pace as about trying to compensate for this year’s condensed season, Baker said. Black Friday 2012 was “pretty successful, and once you've been relatively successful you don’t really have a choice,” he said. “You have to keep plugging away because you can’t risk negative sales results if you have a bad Black Friday compared to having a decent one the previous year.”

NPD is predicting low single-digit sales increases this holiday season over last. The CE industry will be challenged by fewer compelling categories to pull consumers into stores or online, Baker said. There are fewer products “available for retailers to promote that will be successful,” he said. Big-screen TVs and low-cost Android tablets will be the major drivers this season, while popular categories from previous years -- GPS units, digital cameras and picture frames, printers and flash memory -- won’t generate the volume they once did, he said. “That won’t mean you won’t have an aggressively priced digital camera, but the expectations around the product are a lot less,” he said.

New videogame players and software are expected to spur buying interest for the holidays, but they won’t have an impact on Black Friday, Baker noted. “Nobody’s giving away Xbox Ones or PS4s on Black Friday.”

The unusual timing of the first day of Hanukkah falling on Thanksgiving will have a minor nick on Black Friday sales, Baker said, “but nothing that will really move the needle.” Any effects from the combination holiday will predominantly be felt in the Northeast, he said. The timing of Black Friday won’t affect volume for the Black Friday promotional period, but the shorter sales season is likely to lead to more aggressive promotions to drive customers into stores pre- and post-Thanksgiving, Baker said.

Sears and Kmart, meanwhile, will lure their Shop Your Way reward members with exclusive sales and deals, including “Family & Friends” sales and gas savings offers from Kmart, they said. Members will receive 10 percent back in points when shopping with a Sears credit card. They will net 3 percent back in points when shopping with another form of payment from Nov. 3 to Dec. 26 on a customer’s first $1,000 of each qualifying purchase at stores and online, Sears said.

Citing an Accenture survey noting the overlap of in-store browsing with online purchases, Sears and Kmart are pushing their “integrated retail” opportunities for consumers through stores, online, apps and social media. Using the Shop Your Way app, consumers can see comments and recommendations from friends, unlock deals and access program reward statistics, they said. A new Shop'In app will let customers browse merchandise, access exclusive sales and load coupons onto their account from a smartphone. The retailers are waiving layaway service fees through Nov. 23 (from Sept. 8) at Kmart and Oct. 25-Nov. 25 at Sears, they said. Free shipping is offered on purchases of $59 or more. A flexible pickup option allows customers to purchase products online and have friends or family pick them up a brick-and-mortar stores nationwide, and those who choose the free same-day pickup option at a local store are guaranteed five-minute curbside pickup “in select locations,” the company said.