This year, as we enter into the midst of the holiday season with our economy still in crisis, businesses are looking to holiday sales for a bit of a Christmas miracle. Businesses hope that these holiday sales will give a much-needed boost to slowing revenues, and try to predict what sales might look like in this chaotic economy.
Black Friday has become more important than ever.
This year, with so much on the line, make it your patriotic duty to go to the mall and support what is surely the best possible way to stimulate the economy this year.
The economy doesn’t profit from charity or food drives, the economy profits from hard-working Americans spending their hard-earned dollars on an abundance of wonderful, wonderful gifts.
Black Friday is a time-honored American tradition that dates back to the 1960s. Stores all over the country feature huge sales and savings on this Friday in the hopes of kicking off the Christmas-shopping season early.
While celebration of Black Friday was once marked by nothing more than a day of increased savings, over the years it has evolved into a holiday consumerist gauntlet that shows us what American shoppers are really made of. Customers looking to take advantage of these sales are known to start the celebration earlier and earlier every year, lining up in front of stores hours in advance.
They camp out overnight, waiting outside in the bitter cold until the sliding glass doors open to reveal a nativity scene of savings.
Once the doors open, the festivities begin. Holiday excitement fills the air as customers rush around in an attempt to snatch up all the items on their lists (before anyone else can). In many ways, Black Friday is the Easter egg hunt of the holiday season, as consumers scour the aisles, the shelves and other people’s carts for the perfect gift for their loved ones.
And so far, reports have shown that this year’s Black Friday has succeeded in living up to the pressure of our ailing economy.
While Black Friday 2008 did see three shopping-related casualties amidst all this yule-tide thrill, the upside is that data shows that sales figures have been even stronger than expected. According to numbers released Saturday, Nov. 29, retail sales on the day after Thanksgiving were up 3 percent from last year.
But instead of focusing on the success of Black Friday, what is really making headlines this year are the delays in shopping that occurred in both Palm Desert, Calif. and Long Island, N.Y.
In Palm Desert, less than two hours away from Los Angeles, two men shot each other to death in a Toys R Us store after an argument erupted between two women. In New York, a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by a stampede of excited customers as they rushed into the store, and four other people ““ including a pregnant woman ““ were hospitalized with injuries.
Both stores had to be closed down after the killings occurred, bringing Black Friday festivities in both cities to an abrupt halt. Sadly, this prevented eager shoppers from making purchases for hours.
But while these killings occurred accidentally, could there prove to be something of deeper significance behind them?
Evidence seems to show that for every person killed, the revenues from last year’s Black Friday were raised by one percentage point.
And in this struggling economy, every percentage point really matters.
Now, some people may be discouraged by the loss of human life, but in order to set this economy back on track, we are all going to have to make sacrifices.
Obviously, ritual sacrifice isn’t always the answer, but perhaps next year more “offerings” could be made in the spirit of Black Friday to help increase sales revenue even further.
Let’s face it, if we are going to fix this economy, we are just going to have to work together and find a way to sacrifice what we can for the greater good.
And if we could just find some way to increase Black Friday’s sales by, say, 200 or even 300 percentage points in 2009, think about the good it would do our economy.
So let’s make sure that in 2009, Black Friday is an even greater success.
When preparing for your Black Friday festivities next year, don’t forget your essentials: a list of the gifts you’re looking for, a winter coat for the overnight wait, your Kevlar vest, and your steel-toed boots.
Remember, the economy is counting on you.
If Black Friday got you seeing red or feeling blue, e-mail Stoll at rstoll@mail.media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.