Despite the
good economic news, I am left feeling discomfited. Shoppers were encouraged to come out as early
as Thanksgiving night, abandoning the home fires before the dinner dishes were
even washed. Many retailers opened at midnight
early on Friday, offering deals with limited availability that caused customers
to camp outside the doors to be first in line.
We saw video of overexcited shoppers stampeding into stores. The news highlighted the shocking tale of a
woman spraying her shopping competition with pepper spray. She reportedly had two children with
her. In other headlines, a man was shot
while resisting a parking lot robbery.
He was protecting his purchases. In
Arizona, a 54-year old man put a video game under his shirt in a store, to
protect it from being wrestled away by other shoppers. He was reported as a shoplifter, thrown to the ground by police,
bloodied in the process, handcuffed and arrested – all in view of his young grandson. He has since been released from custody, and
the legal finger-pointing has just begun.
We, the
people, have allowed retailers’ marketing hype to draw us from our warm beds on
a holiday night into the darkness and hysteria.
We willingly put our lives and safety in jeopardy, to beat others to the
deals. We are eager to elbow
our neighbors and snatch goods from their hands, to rack up charges on credit to
provide gifts that commemorate high religious holidays. Ironically, surveys show that about 44% of
the people out shopping on Black Friday this year were buying goods for
themselves – not gifts for others. My
personal disgust with all this keeps me at home on Black Friday. I do not argue others’ prerogative to enter
the fray.
My plea for responsible
humanity is to the retailers. Find
another way to market deeply discounted items available on a limited
basis. Retract grossly extended hours of
operation that lure people into the night.
Eliminate the blatant and negligent disregard for the safety and security of your
customers and employees. Use your
creativity to come up with a new approach.
Perhaps instead of encouraging shoppers to trample each other to be the
first to the big screen HDTV’s, you could conduct a lottery drawing, and
provide free home delivery for the winners.
Orchestrate interactive events within the store that would draw
customers throughout the day - not just for the frantic crush at the ungodly
opening hour. One bright spot in trends
is that online purchases continue to grow in percentage of total sales.
The term “Black
Friday” used to refer to the time of year when retailer’s financials went from red
ink losses into the black (profit). With
each year, the term is earning a more sinister connotation. Black Friday norms need to be
re-imagined. Which retailers will lead
the way to a kinder, gentler holiday shopping season?
