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Black Friday in April?

4/16/2016

6 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch, Founder of Mindful Marketing
Cold temperatures and snowstorms recently caused many of us in the U.S. to wake-up wondering what time of year it was.  Our confusion was further compounded by what we found in our inboxes: a couple of emails announcing “Black Friday Sales.”  “How long have I been sleeping?” some of us thought.
 
Yes, it is April and those are Black Friday emails.  Ironically, two large retail competitors have independently and simultaneously selected the same out-of-season promotion: “Spring Black Friday.” The surprising advertising adversaries are Home Depot and Lowe’s.

When you think “Black Friday retail,” you might think electronics (e.g., Best Buy) or clothing (e.g., Macy’s).  So, why are the two home improvement giants slashing prices on patio furniture in April?  Well, the easy answer is they’re trying to move merchandise.  Like any large, publicly traded retailer, they’re under pressure to meet projections for sales and profit.  Analysts’ expect Home Depot’s earnings per share (EPS) for the current quarter to be at least 1.33, while Lowes’ estimate is a more modest but still challenging 0.84.
 
But why have both retailers turned to Black Friday sales in April?  Won’t consumers reject the promotional ploy out-of-hand, just as they would if Walmart and Target offered back-to-school sales in May?  The key is that Black Friday is often used to describe more than just the deep discounts the day after Thanksgiving.  As most of us have noticed over the past few years, retailers have aggressively expanded the super sale’s timeframe from one day to Black Friday Weekend, Black Friday Week, and even an entire month of Black Friday deals.
 
Just as Pavlov taught dogs to associate food with a ringing bell, retail has conditioned consumers to salivate about amazing sales when they hear or see “Black Friday.” Does that mean that stores are treating people like animals?  Although it's true that some consumers act wildly on Black Friday, the answer is “No.”  There’s nothing inherently wrong with creating associations between disparate stimuli, especially if those associations simplify communication and ease the action that consumers want to take.
 
However, calling a variety of sales throughout the year "Black Friday" sales is not a sustainable approach to promotion.  Pavlov could ring a bell every day, several times a day, without weakening the association between the bell and food because dogs continually need to eat, and Pavlov could consistently provide food to fully satisfy that need.
 
On the other hand, humans realize that firms cannot possibly offer their very best sales all the time.  Even if we don’t have an accountant’s understanding of net income, we recognize that retailers need to make money, and selling products for ridiculously low prices is not a long-term path to profitability.  Consumers don’t require routine, incredible sales on power tools and appliances in order to survive, but retailers need healthy profit margins most of the time in order to remain solvent.
 
So, if retailers extend Black Friday sales throughout the year, those discounts are probably not as deep as what we we’ve been conditioned to expect from the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Consequently, people’s expectations of unbelievable purchases won’t be met and Black Friday’s powerful original association will be watered down and eroded.  In other words, the more retailers ring the Black Friday bell, the less consumers will salivate about special sales.
 
It’s unlikely that the continual dilution of Black Friday, spreading the same name over more sales events throughout the year, will create significant stakeholder value for marketers or consumers.  Does Spring Black Friday also compromise societal values?  Probably not, provided that retailers don’t deceive consumers in any specific ways or offer shoppers unfair value for any particular purchases.  Spring Black Friday, therefore, seems like a case of “
Simple-Minded Marketing.”
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6 Comments
Madeline Klosko
4/27/2016 10:49:10 pm

I think that this article is very interesting. Black Friday always baffles me with how it actually isn't just one single day anymore. The sales last until Christmas. But typically, as the article says, the Black Friday sales are clothing retailers and electronic retailers. Having a home improvement store, like Lowe's or Home Depot, have as Black Friday sale as big as Best Buy would be kind of strange. Especially in the winter. But, Home Depot sometimes still needs to get more people in their store and moving inventory off the shelves. If they're going to have a sale, why wouldn't it be in the spring when everyone is doing home improvements or repairs? That makes a lot of sense to me. But I still don't like how they titled it a Black Friday sale. Black Friday is in November, not April. They should have given this specific sale a different name and that could have changed people's opinion about the sale in the first place. There wouldn't be nearly as much backlash if they just called it "Big Sale." Of course, the name change could have the counter effect. Less people might come in if the sale isn't labeled "Black Friday."

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Brandon Rafferty
4/29/2016 10:48:47 am

Many companies are having "black Friday sales" at different times of the year now-a-days and I think it takes a large amount of credit away from the actual black Friday. Why would someone want to deal with the apocalypse style shopping when they know they could get it earlier in the year. Of course, the reason black Friday is when it is, is because Christmas is right around the corner. However, there are many companies that have a seasonal revenue basis. Like Home Depot and Lowes, home improvement stores that sell anything you are putting outside is going to have a large amount sales come warm weather. Thus, making a lot of sales in late November is not really of interest to them. In the same way people get excited about Christmas and get in the shopping mindset at that time of year, they get in the shopping mindset in the early spring for things like mulch, gardening, grass, grills, outdoor furniture to get rid of the old deck chairs, the list goes on. I think that Homedepot and Lowes are merely meeting a need in their demand curve while allowing people to make their homes look magical without breaking their bank. I would say this is definitely mindful marketing.

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Carly Laird
4/30/2016 08:08:31 pm

Although it might not inherently go against societal values, I do feel like there is something a bit sinister with stores having Black Friday sales throughout the year. Black Friday is already problematic because, the day after Americans are supposed to focus on what they feel thankful for, they are trampling other people to get the best deal on some new item. This new trend is also problematic, particularly because our culture is already so built on the diseases of buying and affluence. The fact that stores can do this really shows how obsessed our society is with buying things and getting the best deals, even when we might not necessarily need anything. So, perhaps it is not the companies' decisions themselves that go against societal values, but I do believe they support a problematic trend in our culture that revolves around spending money and purchasing items that we do not need.

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Burke Sunderland
5/1/2016 08:25:13 pm

This is definitely a simple minded approach to marketing. Expanding Black Friday's sales to other seasons can not provide the same results for several reasons, the small vacation for celebrating Thanksgiving break is a drive toward shopping as well as the upcoming Christmas season these are a few of the factors that create a success for Black Friday. However, these sales have been moving from previously mindful to single minded as they started intruding on the Thanksgiving holiday which celebrates getting together as a family and spending time with one another. Moving now into different seasons with a sale that is even sharing the same name is moving into simple minded as it is not only fitting in at an odd time but is also diminishing the Black Friday name and possibly effecting the over-all reputation of the sale. Over using that sale will certainly have a negative effect on the profit and turnout for Black Friday sales moving forward, earning a simple minded borderline mindless approach to marketing.

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Daniella Van Neste
5/1/2016 10:05:51 pm

I agree that this notion of extending Black Friday deals throughout the year is rather Simple Minded. Not only does it encourage more wasteful consumption, but it doesn't seem all that helpful for the company itself. Yes, big sales draw customers in, but if they are happening all the time, people will lose interest and just become baffled when things are regularly priced. It appears to be a desperate measure made by the company.
It also seems as if the company wouldn't be entirely honest about the actual value if they would be doing. If they can continually put an item at an extreme discount, that item probably isn't worth its regularly priced amount. This goes against honesty and fails to uphold customer's values. So not only is the company not really helping themselves, but they are beginning to cross the border of societies values as well. This is why, as many have said, this is Single Minded Marketing.

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Caleb Ostrander
5/1/2016 11:05:45 pm

It baffles me how Black Friday, which is meant to be one SINGLE day of extreme sales has made its way to being a week-long sales event. It baffles me even more that it has now made its way into other months of the year. I find it somewhat difficult to even really call it "Black Friday" when the sale is something that happens multiple times throughout the year. There is no doubt that the continuation of spreading these sales throughout the year will decrease the demand by customers towards these sales, and this will certainly reduce stakeholder value. No real ethical problems occur with this, but I would definitely call this simple-minded.

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