Wal-Mart's cut-rate prices, limited supplies create holiday shopping buzz
Share with others:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
If countless media reports -- and oft-repeated TV footage of shopper scuffles -- can be trusted, the place to be in the chilly, pre-dawn hours of the day after Thanksgiving was in the mass of humanity huddled outside the door of a Wal-Mart store, waiting for a really cheap laptop computer.
The world's largest retailer, feeling a deep need to strut its stuff after being widely seen as a slow-starter last year, wowed 'em this year, generating a level interest in the early morning hours Friday that seemed to all but bypass mall-based stores and even some of its competitors.
Just how important getting off to a slam- bang post-Thanksgiving start is a matter of constant debate in the industry, as are the various techniques used to create buzz, such as limiting the supplies of popular discounted items and opening the doors before the sun rises and the turkey has been fully digested.
Wal-Mart did both on Friday, and the result was a mad dash that lured even more shoppers than it was expecting.
"All in all, they really were the shining example on Black Friday," said Rick Moss, president and founder of RetailWire.com, an industry forum in which retail professionals mull over issues.
Last December, the retailer giant held off on discounts, only to have to rush to offer deals and take out unusual newspaper ads after reporting a mere 0.7 percent increase in sales at existing stores during November 2004. This week, Wal-Mart said it expected after-Thanksgiving sales to be above its estimates and to contribute to a 4.3 percent comparable sales increase for the month.
To put customers on notice early, Wal-Mart launched holiday commercials Nov. 1, promised aggressive discounts and began price-matching with competitors' ads.
The day after Thanksgiving, it generated that coveted thing known as buzz by luring hordes of customers with shocking discounts on laptop computers, portable DVD players and flat-screen TVs.
First Published November 30, 2005 12:00 am
