Avoiding Mall Brawl

I have a confession to make. I have probably had one of the best Thanksgivings I have had in a long time. I didn't watch TV. I wasn't subjected to an endless barrage of ads pushing Holiday Sales. I wasn't in line at a Big Box Last Night waiting for Midnight Madness (appropriately named) along with tens of thousands of bargain hunters around the country. I stayed home this weekend and avoided the insanity.

Having done all my shopping very early buying mostly on line, I was done before Thanksgiving. And I was not the only one. Many people I talked to about their shopping plans were "mostly" finished before Thanksgiving. So it was interesting to hear on the news that traffic was heavy but buying in the stores was light.

Buying online this weekend was a different story. Wal-Mart's website was hit so hard on Black Friday it went down several times for a total of 15 minutes as a estimated 22 Million People tried to access the TV and Electronic pages. Wal-Mart estimates this blackout probably cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars as frustrated shoppers went to other sites to buy.

E-Stores are reporting a different story. Ebay sold 14,000+ of the hard to get Xbox at an average price of $1,200, or nearly three times the retail price. Amazon.com sold out of its entire supply of X-Boxes in 29 seconds. Sold out it's entire supply of Mongoose Mountain bikes and Barbie Dolls in 15 minutes. Pricegrabber.com saw a 225% spike in traffic compared to the rest of November and most of that spike was on the TOY pages. Shopping.com saw a 40% spike in traffic over the daily average for the rest of the month.

The Nation Retail Foundation forecasts that 137 million shoppers will visit retail stores this Christmas shopping season (between Black Friday and Christmas Eve). Ebay had 7.5 million shoppers on Black Friday alone.

Depending on which research group you watched on the news shows this weekend; the estimates for online retail sales over the Thanksgiving weekend were between $1.15 billion and $1.73 billion. The general consensus is that web sales this Christmas season will jump up 30% percent over the same period last year to more than $27 billion.

The big box stores saw huge crowds and disappointing sales. To make matters worse, the cost of drawing in the crowds was huge considering the level or promotional pricing and discounting. Wal-Mart is now projecting flat sales to -.01% lower than last year for Black Friday. Other stores are reporting similar experiences.

I didn't shop online to save money. Truth be known; including shipping and insurance, I probably paid close to what those people who were standing in line paid.

I shopped online to avoid the mayhem usually associated with Christmas shopping. I hate the "hyper intensity" and "shark feeding frenzied" atmosphere in the stores. I hate the bad background music interlaced with endless "price promotion" broadcasts. I hate the way the stores are so full of merchandise, signs, and displays you have to almost walk sideways in the aisles.

I hate the way the worst in people come out in what is supposed to be one of the most joyful times of the year as local news delights in the endless running of the "road rage" incidents captured on video in mall parking lots.

I hate having to run gauntlet of panhandlers in the parking lots and coupon/flyer dispensers strategically positioned at the entrances like offensive linemen; and I am not alone feeling this way. The last couple of years the purchase of GIFT CARDS has increased dramatically. It is estimated this year there will be a 50% increase in GIFT CARD purchases this year.

I personally think that unless stores can improve the shopping experience to the point they won't need to use aggressive discounts to lure shoppers, the pendulum is going to keep swinging towards e-shopping.

I think the differences in shopping experiences between store shoppers and e-shoppers this Black Friday was best summed up by a television news interview of a woman who had been standing in line at a store since noon on Thanksgiving waiting for the store to open at Midnight. "I'm feeling pretty stupid about now."