Saturday, November 29, 2008

From Black Friday to Cyber Monday

I participated in the first time (that I can recall) in the adventure called Black Friday. Ominous as it may sound, it is my understanding that the name refers to a designation that retailers need this day and the Saturday and Sunday that combine to make up the full post-Thanksgiving weekend in order for their companies to make it into the black for the year.

I encountered pretty good crowds at the Nike outlet store in Bend, Oregon, though the density of shoppers milling about in the Old Mill District was light enough to keep the experience from being unpleasant. The big deal of the day was a 50% off deal with another 25% taken off of that. WhooooHoooo!!!!

Of course that really doesn't mean anything without the context of the starting price or the item, but know that I did my very small part in saving the country from economic collapse.

Which brings me to Cyber Monday, the only just recently christened excuse to encourage consumerism. This is supposedly the launch of the online shopping season and much will be made of the volume of sales conducted this December 1st.

One potential wrinkle: My sister has informed me that she got her Cyber Monday shopping done on Black Friday which is truly going to mess with the heads of those in charge of coining names for dates meant to encourage our consumption.

2 comments:

WritersHairClip said...

I noticed a trend with free shipping which makes everything really tempting. Did you go off of Amazon, because they did absolutely nothing except for advertise for black friday! Pshh.
I wouldn't worry too much about contributing to the economy online, because no on is going to get trampled rushing through it's virtual doors ;)

Anonymous said...

I did most of my shopping at Amazon on Friday and found great deals, but had to look throughout the day because the bargains came and went. I got movies for $4, a wii game $20 cheaper than everywhere else and a rockin' deal on an MP3 player and memory card. As far as Cyber Monday goes, I've found very little. I read an article earlier today that said with the online stores getting into the Black Friday game, Cyber Monday has "lost its luster". I'd have to say I agree with that assessment.

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