Black Friday Strategies in the US

Black Friday, the shopping day in the US after Thanksgiving, conjures up images of doorbuster deals and packed stores. In this podcast, Euromonitor explains this year’s Black Friday strategies from three different perspectives: retailing, toys and games and apparel and accessories.

This year, many retailers chose to release their Black Friday deals early in an effort to make things simpler for consumers. Wal-Mart, for instance, are pushing back on doorbuster deals, choosing instead to spread out deals in the entirety of the shopping season. Some retailers will not even open on Black Friday, including REI, which is encouraging consumers to go enjoy time outside with friends and family.

Shopping for toys and games tends to always pick up during Black Friday in the US as companies encourage parents to do all their holiday shopping during this day. Video games will be steeply discounted across both hardware and software, with both Xbox One and Playstation 4 being aggressively discounted. Toys to life products will also be big this season, with lines such as Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions and Skylanders Giants all expected to perform well.

Apparel and accessories are two massively discounted items each Black Friday. This year, department stores such as Macy’s and JC Penny have already released their Black Friday ads, while apparel retailers such as Express and Gap have already started offering Black Friday type discounts. These discounts may actually be steeper this year as many retailers have a surplus of unsold inventory.

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