Swift Shopper: Retail & Technology

Retail Stores Open on Thanksgiving?

Participating in Black Friday has always been a way to get a girls day out. We are Christmas Shopping and getting coffee with the disguise of amazing deals to save us money at the most expensive time of year. This is an event our male counterparts never wanted to participate in with us.

The deals on Black Friday, for me, have always been secondary. The one thing brick and mortar stores had going for them over commerce is that ecommerce can’t replicate the fun of running from store to store with your friends while competing with the shoppers around you to get the best deals. This is what Black Friday has been about and it is how people still see Black Friday, but there is a new generation coming and the retailers are trying to target them.

How do they target Millenials? Millennials want convenience. Convenience has become apart of their lives. Their social interaction is convenient with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and SnapChat. Their shopping is convenient and with Digital Wallet it will be that much easier to shop online instead of in stores. We’ve become a society that doesn’t require human interaction and touch as we once did. We are okay with not touching items before purchasing them. We are okay with reading a review about a dress and deciding to buy it without ever putting it on. We are okay with following a blog about deals and interacting with people that have a common interest. It makes the world smaller and geography doesn’t keep us from being open to new people and new things that we would have never known existed before the digital age.

Because of this, Brick and Mortar stores have to make Black Friday deals more convenient for the millennials to be able to compete with online commerce, specifically Amazon. Amazon continues to push into providing same day delivery service, with drones delivering products, fresh groceries at your door in 3 hours or less, etc. How much faster can we get the products to the consumer so they never have to step foot into a brick and mortar store again? Is commerce killing Black Friday or is the retailer’s adjustment to ecommerce killing the experience of Black Friday? I think retailers need to understand that Black Friday was never just about the deals and they need to make the experience something worth going out for. I can get the same deals online without ever stepping foot into a store. Opening on Thanksgiving is convenient, but doesn’t necessarily provide the experience that Black Friday shoppers want.

Retailers seem to believe otherwise and I do not have the marketing prowess to determine whether they should be opening up their stores on Thanksgiving. A business runs to make money. If they don’t make money, there is no reason to be in business. If their analysis to be open on Thanksgiving is correct and they make more money, than they should do it.

But we live in America where we have lots of choices. We have more choices than any other country in the world. This freedom of choice started because of pilgrims who gave up their lives to start a new world. Our new world provides us free commerce and I can choose to shop on Thanksgiving or not shop on Thanksgiving. I can choose to work for a company that gives me Thanksgiving off or get paid holiday pay for working on Thanksgiving. I personally am not going to participate in shopping on Thanksgiving. I want to celebrate with the pilgrims and give thanks with our nation for all the blessings we have as a nation because God sustained the pilgrims. I remember growing up and stores being closed by 6 p.m. and closed on Sunday’s. Families were allowed time to eat dinner and spend more quality time. I think it made a real difference. How did we get through back then? We planned accordingly. There will be plenty of time to go shopping.

I keep reading that the retailers who are not opened on Thanksgiving are choosing to allow people to stay home and be with their families. It is an important holiday in our nation’s history. I’m thankful for companies that are committing to honoring our nation and reminding us to be thankful and content for what we have.