Black Friday Bargains Await You as Retailer Pull Out All Stops

Black Friday, the premiere shopping day following Thanksgiving and the first shopping day of the holiday season is as traditional as Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Millions of shoppers will converge on the retail establishments to begin their holiday shopping spree in search for some of the best retail bargains and deal of the year. Black Friday is so named because it is the day when retailers expect their accounting books to go from red ink to black. Following a year of dismal sales, due to the economic upheaval, retailers are searching for encouraging signs the economy is improving and consumer confidence is on an uptick. To lure customers in the retailers are pulling out all stops. They hope to appeal to the frugal and conservative shopper. They will begin promoting their Black Friday bargains much earlier this year. New layaway options, the revival of the Christmas club and other programs are being instituted to appeal to and squeeze from the credit crunched consumer, every dollar possible. As with previous years, electronics will lead the way. They have always been a crowd pleaser. Instead of using the traditional television bargains, Blu-ray discs and players will be this year's loss leader. With some players beginning at $99, half of their 2008 price, consumers are expected to wipe out everything available on the shelves. Computers also attract a lot of attention. They too will be used to entice the shoppers into purchasing more. The introduction of new-low priced netbooks and discount versions of Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system are also expected to drive sales. Bundled promotional packages consisting of national brand computer accessories and software as well as digital camera, portable video cameras, and video games at commanding prices will also be thrown into the retail mix. Clothing, both store and designer brands will be available at deeper discounts as the retailer pass on to the consumer the lower cost extended to them due to lower clothing production cost. There will be less variety available as the retailer focus on providing only the trendiest designs. Boy's jeans and leather jackets are expected to flood the market. The retailers are not expected to keep these seasonal prices low for too long so do not delay in making your holiday purchases. Inventories are being kept low in every category so you will not have a lot to choose from as the season progresses. Anxious to get the word out about their Black Friday deals and whet the appetites of the consumers, promotions will begin airing the first week of November. Retailers believe they will surpass the forecaster's predictions that 2009 holiday sales will be flat compared with 2008 sales. They are expecting this to be a bang-up holiday season. Resource: Black Friday 2009 - National Retail Federation Tags: black Friday, holiday sales, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas shopping