Walmart Black Friday Ads 2011:Old Navy stores open at midnight on Black Friday and will be open 9AM to 8PM on Thanksgiving Day. The ad does say that store hours vary, so you may want to call your local store verify their times.Walmart is getting an early start to Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. The discount retail giant released its Black Friday ad Thursday, announcing that this year the store’s doors will open at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving night for discounts on home items, clothing, and toys. Electronics will go on sale two hours later, at midnight.Among the items you can grab at 10 p.m. after your feast: a $67 ping pong table, a slew of DVDs for $1.96 apiece, and a 4-quart Crock-Pot for under $10 (regular price is closer to $25).Perhaps as surprising as the deals is the timing of the ad for Walmart Black Friday 2011. Last year, Walmart didn’t announce its Black Friday deals until Nov. 22, meaning this year’s revelations are coming a full 12 days earlier than before. But the early Walmart announcement is just the latest in a trend of stores getting an earlier and earlier start to the Black Friday rush: For the first time, Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic are opening their stores at midnight on Black Friday, joining Macy's, Kohl's, and Target, which have done it before.
“Thanksgiving night openings are much more common now,” says Dan de Grandpre, CEO of dealnews.com, a website that tracks sales at large retailers across the country. “Deals are going to be much better at that time. But you have to get up earlier and earlier, or those stores will be picked over.”
The hubbub over the early Walmart announcement comes in the wake of projections for a fairly average holiday shopping season. Erik Johnson, an economist with IHS Global Insight, is predicting a 4.2 percent growth in overall holiday sales over last year. “To put this in perspective, 2010 holiday sales were up 5.2 percent and 2009 sales were down 0.4 percent,” Mr. Johnson says in e-mail.
Some are predicting more shoppers, however. According to Business News Daily, a recent consumer survey from the digital technology advertising company Social Vibe is projecting a 52 percent increase in the number of Black Friday shoppers from last year. That means longer lines and much bigger crowds, which may be part of the impetus for retailers to extend their hours.
But Mr. de Grandpre insists that bigger crowds don’t necessarily mean more buying. “There will be a lot of window shopping,” he said “Participation in Black Friday will go up, but there will be more of a shift from in-store shopping into online shopping. The growth of online shopping has been many times higher than in-store shopping.
Johnson agrees. “E-commerce as a percentage of overall retail sales hit an all-time high in the second quarter of 2011, at 4.6 percent,” he says.
Online retailers, too, are getting in on the Black Friday earlier than ever: Amazon.com has already launched a “Countdown to Black Friday” section of its site, with early discounts on a wide array of products including cameras, TVs, DVDs, and toys.
“Thanksgiving night openings are much more common now,” says Dan de Grandpre, CEO of dealnews.com, a website that tracks sales at large retailers across the country. “Deals are going to be much better at that time. But you have to get up earlier and earlier, or those stores will be picked over.”
The hubbub over the early Walmart announcement comes in the wake of projections for a fairly average holiday shopping season. Erik Johnson, an economist with IHS Global Insight, is predicting a 4.2 percent growth in overall holiday sales over last year. “To put this in perspective, 2010 holiday sales were up 5.2 percent and 2009 sales were down 0.4 percent,” Mr. Johnson says in e-mail.
Some are predicting more shoppers, however. According to Business News Daily, a recent consumer survey from the digital technology advertising company Social Vibe is projecting a 52 percent increase in the number of Black Friday shoppers from last year. That means longer lines and much bigger crowds, which may be part of the impetus for retailers to extend their hours.
But Mr. de Grandpre insists that bigger crowds don’t necessarily mean more buying. “There will be a lot of window shopping,” he said “Participation in Black Friday will go up, but there will be more of a shift from in-store shopping into online shopping. The growth of online shopping has been many times higher than in-store shopping.
Johnson agrees. “E-commerce as a percentage of overall retail sales hit an all-time high in the second quarter of 2011, at 4.6 percent,” he says.
Online retailers, too, are getting in on the Black Friday earlier than ever: Amazon.com has already launched a “Countdown to Black Friday” section of its site, with early discounts on a wide array of products including cameras, TVs, DVDs, and toys.
This is very good deal for the coming black friday event,
ReplyDeleteIn the previous year i was saved with the kohls black friday 2011 on the occassion of black friday 2010