We’re still two weeks away from Halloween and six weeks out from Thanksgiving, but already whiffs of Black Friday are in the air.
Earlier this week Macy’s announced it would open its doors on Thanksgiving night, joining a growing coterie of retailers that are dashing its employees’ holiday plans. (At least Macy’s is waiting until after the parade.)
Also this week, Walmart, at its annual investor conference, promised its biggest Black Friday event ever with promotional tie-ins, a multi-media marketing campaign and aggressive promotions and price-cuts.
Websites are also burbling with Black Friday excitement. BFAds.net and BradsDeals.com, once quasi-subversive sources for leaked circulars, have gone mainstream, conducting shopping studies and posting news reports and analyses.
Best Buy has also entered the fray, launching a Black Friday microsite that promises multichannel deals on laptops, HDTVs, Blu-ray players, appliances, digital cameras and video games that “will blow you away.”
Game on, merchants.
