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The Absurdity of Black Friday Sales (That Aren’t Black Friday Sales)
There’s little doubt that the 2020 holiday season is a little off kilter. Regulations or fear related to the pandemic has slashed opportunities for traditional in-person retail shopping, nobody knows what will be in short supply (please let there be TP), and even retail giants are struggling to meet delivery promises in the face of surging ecommerce demand.
In this context, holiday creep is nothing new. But uncertainties related to COVID-19, combined with the usual desire to compete, has made the final months of 2020 particularly absurd. One major factor is that Amazon postponed its usual Prime Day well into October. Because that sale was so close to Halloween — which already has become blurred with Thanksgiving — most retailers considered it to be an early kickoff to their holiday sales. At the same time, local and state agencies are encouraging consumers to get online instead of venturing out to brick-and-mortar sites.
To compete and give shoppers more time to buy, retailers are taking “day” sales like Black Friday and turning them into weeks. They are also throwing in additional events and billing them as either “early” or “second chance” Prime Days, Black Fridays, and Cyber Mondays.
The result? Although we’ve been headed in this direction for a long time, in 2020, the…
