Retailers get aggressive in advertising despite recession

Companies hope ‘Black Friday’ spurs spending

By Jon Stonehouse
Western Herald

Coming off of the worst retail sales month on record, businesses and analysts are racking their brains and cranking out sales pitches in an effort to predict and survive Black Friday and the Christmas shopping season.
Some are worried the spiraling economy will change the face of retail in America, with the Thanksgiving weekend as a prime indicator.
“Even with a recession going on we expect similar sales as last year,” Target store team leader Sarai VanderWood said.
“People will need the deals now more than ever.”
Newspaper reports across the nation are either saying one of two things; there will be less traffic or there will be more eye-popping deals.
Reuters released a survey today that predicted Black Friday would see 5 percent fewer shoppers than last year.
To combat the possible loss, retailers are taking matters into their own hands by doing what they did last year: offering sales weeks in advance.
At the same time, this accounts for fewer shoppers on the actual day of Black Friday.
Locally, advertisements have littered the Kalamazoo Gazette daily from different businesses trying to gain an edge in their respective departments.
TJ Maxx even had a hand written sign taped to a streetlight on Westnedge Avenue advertising 20 percent off.
Major players this year are Meijer, Wal-Mart, Target, JC Penny’s, and Kohls, but perhaps the biggest contest is in electronics.
“Electronics and toys are our two biggest sales items on Black Friday,” VanderWood said. “We don’t look at Circuit City and Best Buy as direct competitors, but Wal-Mart and Meijer we do.”
She claims Target has an advantage over Best Buy and other electronics retailers because they carry general merchandise, offering more convenience as a department store.
This doesn’t seem to be slowing down the Circuit City location in Portage on Westnedge Avenue.
It was the nation’s top performing store in the company during the month of October, said Devin Miller, store operations manager.
“Obviously the economy is difficult,” Miller said. “But we expect to see the same amount of traffic, if not more.”
While the Portage location may be surviving the storm the rest of the Circuit City company is facing some troubles.
It has filed for bankruptcy and a total of 155 of the company’s stores nationwide are being shutdown.
In September, its CEO stepped down.
For now, the Jackson location is the only store in the region that will be closing, Miller said.
He said he couldn’t disclose what items will be on sale or what they predict will sell the most, but in general Miller said digital cameras and Mp3 players are their hottest items.
“Gaming is up this year so those are supposed to be big for us,” he said.
With so much economic instability, it’s easy to see why Miller and his competitors like Best Buy are keeping their lips sealed and their sales agendas under-wraps.
One Big Lots salesman finally was able to break the silence.
“It was pretty busy last year,” Jim Balentine said, a furniture salesman at the Big Lots location on Kilgore Road in Portage.
Balentine said even though he only had to work the afternoon shift that day, he’d rather not be bothered by it.
“It get’s pretty crazy on that day,” he said.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 26 2008. Filed under Campus, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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