The first Black Friday e-mail alerts are already appearing in my inbox. The day-after-Thanksgiving holiday shopping event has morphed into a season of its own, running from November through Christmas in an effort to get consumers spending. So what will the deals look like this year?
First of all, they probably won't be as amazing as those of, say, two years ago, says Dan de Grandpre, founder of DealNews, which reports on bargains year-round. When the recession first hit, he explains, retailers had large inventories on hand and were forced to slash prices drastically to reduce them. They've become more cautious since then, so inventories are smaller and they are not under the same intense pressure to move merchandise.
Michael Brim, Webmaster for BFAds, which posts Black Friday ads as they are leaked or released, adds that stores may not have a lot of markup left to cut, owing to year-round efforts to lure customers in a down economy. "The stores are hurting too," he says.
As a result, de Grandpre generally expects to see this year's shopping season resemble a game of chicken, with consumers waiting as long as possible for bargains and with retailers holding the line on prices as long as they can. That might mean that the best prices won't be offered on Black Friday or Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend).
Even so, stores (both online and brick-and-mortar) will still be competing for customers. Here's the deal landscape in several popular categories.