Though not traditionally associated with holiday gift giving, major appliances have assumed a major role in the Black Friday-period plans of retailers and vendors.
According to market research firm Gap Intelligence, a representative panel of 12 leading majap dealers upped its holiday weekend ad count by 17 percent year over year, to 931 circulars.
Within those, laundry led with 37 percent of the promotions, topped by Samsung (25 percent), LG (20 percent), Sears’ Kenmore brand (14 percent) and Whirlpool brand (13 percent).
Of the dozen retailers tracked, Sears ran the lion’s share of laundry ads at 24 percent, followed by Lowe’s (14 percent), Fry’s (12 percent), hhgregg (11 percent) and P.C. Richard (9 percent).
Interestingly, No. 3 majap chain Home Depot tied with Florida chain BrandsMart USA with 6 percent of the laundry ad basket each, the Gap data showed.
Beyond laundry, “Sears increased its ad counts across all home appliance categories and was the dominant retailer for overall [ad] volume during Black Friday 2015,” said Gap analyst Christine Boersing.
The extended Black Friday season has become a major selling period for majaps in recent years, with category sales hitting $3.6 billion last month alone, according to some estimates.
