With the Holidays quickly approaching and the highly advertised Black Friday well underway consumers are on the prowl for the best deals! Although, brick and mortar stores are trying their hardest to bring their customers to stores, while they wait long lines for the best deals, although, other consumers are opting out for online shopping and waiting till Cyber Monday’s free deals and best specials. I came across this very interesting article on CNBC.com on Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday which is better? So would you rather take drive, wake up early to beat the lines or would you rather shop from the comfort of your own home if the store is offering you free shipping? Why wait till Black Friday when you can start shopping and saving as early as Wednesday night? After all online shopping it’s all about accessibility! So if you’re favorite stores are closed today perhaps consider browsing online because they are open 24/7 no matter the day or holiday.
From CNBC.com
“These days, consumers don’t care whether you call it Black Friday or Cyber Monday — all they care about is the price,” says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group. “And retailers — increasingly having to grab consumers’ attention during Thanksgiving leisure time — are now so willing to be flexible and move these deal dates around, they don’t seem to care what you call these days either.”
That means consumers may have more opportunities to snag a good deal, and they may be able to pick whether they want to be a night owl, and stake out retailers opening at midnight on Black Friday; or an early bird, and awake before dawn; or eschew the entire thing, and go shopping in their pajamas from their computer at home.
If you’re on the fence, consider this:
1. Retailers have committed to higher quality deals on Cyber Monday. “As recently as three years ago, Black Friday — dominated by Big Store brands — was clearly better than smaller brand-focused and clothing-focused
2. Range of discounts on both days has become very similar. It’s true that discounts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday do vary, because retailers can manipulate pre-discount pricing, and because the margins on electronic items differ from those on clothing
3. Brick-and-mortar and online retailers are fueling each other’s sales.Smart retailers are increasingly unifying their physical and online stores.
“There’s some form of integration between those two channels, whether it’s in terms of language, promotions or pricing,” says Paco Underhill, CEO of Envirosell, a retail-focused research and consulting firm.
4. More people are now buying online. Nearly 68 percent of retailers polled say they expect online sales to grow at least 15 percent or more compared with last holiday season, according to Shop.org’s eHoliday survey. And, says the National Retail Federation, the average shopper plans to do about 36 percent of their holiday shopping online this year, up from 32.7 percent in 2010.
5. Black Friday deals are now often available online on Thursday. Very few retailers’ brick-and-mortar stores are open on Thanksgiving, though there are some, but shopping at their online counterparts on Thursday is a big option.
To read the entire article click here so next time when you’re at the mall, chasing customers down the street to find parking, waiting in long lines, can’t find your product and there’s crowds of people everywhere perhaps you should consider shopping from the convenience of your home.
