Impact of Black Fridays to Employees - Term Paper Example

MARKETING

Black Friday history features Santa Claus which was held on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving first signaled the commencement of the holiday season (MONEY CRASHERS). To begin advertising holiday sales, some department stores such as then Macy’s and others sponsored the holiday throughout the 20th century (BACK FRIDAY). This gave them publicity and popularity to potential consumers. Unconsciously, stores and departments assumed an unwritten rule that Christmas advertisement will only begin after the Thanksgiving parade (which was being held on Thursday). All retailers stuck to the rule (MONEY CRASHERS).

After Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving an official national holiday, 70 years later, Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the date (which had been set to be the last Thursday of November) because of the complaints that the Christmas shopping season was short. Since then a lot of changes have taken place (MONEY CRASHERS). Between 1993 and 2001, Black Friday ranked either fifth or sixth busiest shopping day. However, since 2002, it has taken and maintained the lead.

Inasmuch as Black Friday may be the most publicized commercial day of the year, it does not make good business sense. It increases retailers’ civil liability as a lot of injuries are encountered and even some shoppers succumb to death due to stampede that normally ensues. The Black Friday websites keep track and compile the statistics on the injuries and death that occur on this day. According to this website, the first death, resulting from this fanaticism, was in 2008 at Walmart in Valley Stream. Other such case has continued to be observed over the years (BACK FRIDAY). The expenses of these injuries and deaths have to be met by the shop owners. Besides increasing retailers’ liability due to losses and injuries to shoppers, the very retailers stand at a risk of being injured. Over the years, reports of retailers killed by shoppers due to stampede have been reported. Additionally, Black Friday presents retailers as unethical and not concerned with consumers’ welfare (BACK FRIDAY).  By the fact that they keep on advertising this day to encourage consumers to shop, even after observing the negative implications of the same, it seems they are only interested in profits but not the wellbeing of the consumers. This damages retailers’ image thus killing public relations between consumers and retailers.

Black Friday mainly makes use of price promotion. Great discount offers are allowed on products hence increasing the high demand for commodities. However, unlike the usual price promotion which may take days or months, the Black Friday price promotions may last for only hours. This may lead to distrust in the model of price promotion since consumers feel betrayed. Additionally, continuous fluctuation in pricing may lead to an unhealthy competition where retailers change prices based on the price of the competitor without having to consider the welfare of the consumers. What it all boils down to is that Black Friday competition may be based on the price of the commodities but not the quality of the goods being offered. Consequently, consumers find themselves on the losing end. Again, this makes consumers lose trust in the price promotion in terms of discounts.

During Black Fridays, not all segments of price strategy are employed. Thus Black Friday dilutes the marketing value of the price strategy. The main segment taken into consideration is to take note of competitor’s actions. And this is mainly done to decide whether to increase or decrease price in a bid to attract buyers (Eric, 2013). Other segments of price strategy such as consumer’s ability to pay, market condition, and trade margins are not taken into considerations. Generally, Black Friday reduces price strategy to price promotion (Keith, 2001). This is because the components of price strategy that differentiate it from the price promotions are done away with.