Is shopping from home the new Black Friday trend? (Image © Valua Vitaly - Fotolia.com)
. But this year, shoppers seem to favor shopping from home, especially since many retailers are bending the unwritten rules that prohibit people from working until the clock strikes 12 a.m. after Thanksgiving.
You can now take advantage of the 4 Day Sale – on select furniture, decor, kitchen and more at Target.com; celebrate Black Friday Every Friday at officemax.com; and even make Black Friday blue at Kmart.com. Yes, shopping from home has never been more affordable, challenging and rewarding. Most doorbuster deals are on the websites as well, so you won’t lose much if you don’t stand in line.
More interesting for our industry, however, is these retailers’ approach to marketing, advertising and PR. TV and radio ads are also customary, as well as various printed media. Traditional means aside, all retailers are using affiliate networks to promote their sales, and only a few announce their Black Friday deals via press release distribution networks, despite the fact that these do not imply sharing sales commissions with third parties, are cheap, and offer larger exposure, on social networks and even mainstream media.
Special deals are more newsworthy for consumers than the usual PR moves announced through the year, that usually glorify the brand and focus less on customers. It would make sense to see Black Friday ads on press release distribution networks first, instead of hearing about them from the top Black Friday sites that publish “leaked” ads.
For consumers, official releases are more trustworthy than other resources – another aspect usually ignored by retailers like Kmart, Wal Mart and so on. Smaller companies, however, are not shy to use all resources to maximize profits, while discount stores use the momentum to remind the public that they practice Black Friday every day in their stores.
About Delia Gavrilescu
