Retailers Prepare For Black Friday

November 22nd, 2006 - - Filled in: Business/Consumer

I was going to wait to talk about it until the end of this, but David Blaine suspended five stories above Times Square is certainly the most talked about event today. Congratulations, Target! You’ve succeeded; we’re all talking about you. While I sound a little cynical, I’ve gotta admit I love shopping at Target…particularly the Super Target stores. Back to Blaine…not only is Target involved but so is the Salvation Army. Blaine’s stunt isn’t merely for publicity, but 100 children will benefit. If successful, Blaine will escort these 100 children on a truly amazing shopping excursion at Target. Identified by The Salvation Army, the children will receive Target GiftCards worth $500 each to kick-off the holidays…and Target’s 2-Day Sale. They must not have read my post about gift cards. I’m sure those kids will use them. By the way, you can watch David Blaine on Target.com.

So what are other retailers doing? Well, Wal-Mart is opening at 5:00am on Friday morning and having some sort of blow-out sale until 11:00am. And, of course, what would marketing be without drawing shoppers to your website before the sale to “check back on Thanksgiving to discover Friday’s secret items”. One of these secret items is the RCA 52″ Widescreen Projection HDTV w/ Built-In Digital Tuner, R52WH74 according to GottaDeal.com. Then there’s a Saturday/Sunday Sale where toys and electronics will receive the price guillotine. And then Huge Cyber Monday Savings at Walmart.com. Watch for falling prices!