Dealers Hit New Doorbuster Lows
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 12/5/2005
New York — — New York — Even for the day after Thanksgiving, the doorbuster specials on Black Friday morning were unusually aggressive. (Consider Wal-Mart's now infamous HP notebook offer at a near riot-inducing $378.)
“This will go down as one of the earliest and most promotional Black Fridays in history,” said Tracy Mullin, president/CEO of the National Retail Federation. “Many stores opened earlier than ever before and retailers offered unbelievable sales and discounts to get people shopping.”
Just how unbelievable? Take a gander at the chart for a sampling of CE promotions in key categories. The good news, said Bob Perry, U.S. CE products sales VP for LG Electronics, is that the traffic and excitement generated by the early bird specials helped drive sales of non-discounted premium products as well. “We had a ten-fold increase in LG plasma volume,” he said. (More Black Friday coverage appears on p. 17.)
Black Friday Promotions In Key CE Categories*| Retailer | 42W-inch Plasma HDTV | 32W-inch LCD TV | MiniDV Camcorders | Portable DVD |
| 6th Ave. Electronics | $1,798 (Hitachi) | $888 (Protron) | $198 (Panasonic ) | $98 (7-inch screen) |
| Best Buy | $1,500 (Magnavox) | $1,200 (JVC) | $190 (Samsung) | $70 (7-inch Insignia) |
| Circuit City | $1,800 (Philips) | $950 (Polaroid) | $200 (Panasonic) | $77 (7-inch screen) |
| CompUSA | — | $1,000 (Olevia) | — | — |
| RadioShack | — | — | — | $60 (3.6-inch Axion) |
| Sears | $1,800 (Hitachi) | $800 (Protron) | $250 (Canon) | $90 (7-inch Protron) |
| Target | $3,300 (HP) | — | $200 (Samsung) | $139 (9-inch Kawasaki) |
| Sam's Club | $1,898 (Philips) | $897 (Vizio) | — | — |
| Wal-Mart | — | — | $248 (JVC) | $68 (6.2-inch Venturer) |
| *Early bird offers on Friday, Nov. 25, 2005, in the New York metro market. Prices after rebates and other requirements. Brands shown where available. Source: TWICE Market Research ©TWICE 2005 | ||||
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